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MEDIA & MATERIALSMEDIA & MATERIALS

MANIPULATIVES

Real objects – such as coins, tools, artifacts, plants, and animals are some of the most accessible, intriguing, and involving materials in educational use. They are known as manipulatives because students may handle and inspect them.

Ex. The collection of Colonial era coins, frogs dissected in the college biology, laboratory, the real baby being bathed in the parenting class – are real objects to elucidate the obscure and to stimulate the imagination.

Verbalism is a term that refers to

parroting words without meaningful understanding. To build schemata that have meaning and relevance in their lives, learners used a base in concrete experience, and bringing real objects into the classroom can help in this.

Cutaways -Devices such as machine with one side cut away to allow close observation of the inner workings.

Specimens -Actual plants, animals, or parts thereof preserved for convenient inspection.

Exhibits -Collection of artifacts often of a scientific or historical nature, brought together with printed information to illustrate a point.

ADVANTAGES Means of presenting information, raising

questions, and providing hands on learning experiences.

Play a valuable role in the valuation phase of instruction.

Learners can identify, classify, describe their functioning, discuss their utility, or compare and contrast them.

Emphasizes the real – world application of the topic of study, aids transfer of training, and helps transcend the merely verbal level of learning.

Models

are three dimensional representations of real objects. It may be larger, smaller or the same size as the object it represents. It provides learning experiences that real things cannot provide.

ADVANTAGES Appeals to children

of all ages Stimulate inquiry

and discoveryHelps sharpen both

cognitive and psychomotor skills

Mock–ups • are simplified representations of

complex devices or processes, are prevalent in industrial training.

ADVANTAGES It clarify the complex Illustrate the basic

operations of a real deviceAllow individuals or small

groups to manipulate the mock-up at their convenience, working with the subject matter until they comprehend it.

Computer Programs and Manipulatives

The recent addition of manipulatives and student hands on material included in computer software packages is an example of how traditional non projected media are being incorporated into software programs to provide powerful learning experiences.

Models and real objects are the recommended media when realism is essential for learning. They provide concept that involve three dimensions; tasks that require identification by size, shape, or color and hands-on or laboratory practice.

FIELDTRIPS

an excursion outside the classroom to study real processes, people, and objects, often grows out of students’ need for firsthand experiences.

It makes it possible for students to encounter phenomena that cannot be brought into the classroom for observation and study.

Dale’s Cone of Experience

places fieldtrips toward the middle of the cone because, although the experience in “real”, students typically are only seeing and hearing the phenomena, not directly manipulating them.

Virtual field trips Are an extension of actual fieldtrips. Often the expense of the time to travel

to a particular interesting location is not possible.

With the World Wide Web, children may experience the sights and sounds of a faraway location from their home or school.

PRINTED MATERIALS

Printed Materials include textbooks, fiction and non-fiction books, booklets, pamphlets, study guides, manuals and worksheets, as well as word processed documents prepared by students and teachers.

Textbooks have long been the foundation of classroom instruction.

ADVANTAGES Availability – Printed materials are readily

available on a variety of topics and in many different formats.

Flexibility – They are adjustable to many purposes and may be used in any lighted environment.

Portability – They are easily carried from place to place and do not require any equipment or electricity.

User-friendly – Properly designed printed materials are easy to use, not requiring special effort to “navigate” through.

Economical - Printed materials are relatively inexpensive to produce or purchase and can be reused.

LIMITATIONS Reading level. The major limitation of printed materials

is that they are written at a certain reading level. Some students are non readers or poor readers lacking adequate literacy skills; some printed materials are above their reading level.

Prior knowledge. Even though textbooks are generally written to be more considerate of the reader, with clear language and simple sentence structures, readers who lack some prerequisite knowledge may struggle to comprehend the text.

Memorization. Some texts introduce a large number of vocabulary terms and concepts in a short amount of space. This practice places a heavy cognitive burden on students, which may be overwhelming for some.

One way presentation. Since most printed materials are not interactive, they tend to be used on a passive way, often without comprehension.

Curriculum determination. Sometimes textbooks dictate the curriculum, rather, than being used to support the curriculum. Textbooks are often written to accommodate the curriculum guidelines of particular states or provinces. Consequently, the preferences of these authorities disproportionately influence textbook content or as treatment.

Cursory appraisal. Selection committees might not examine textbooks carefully. Sometimes textbooks are chosen by the “five-minute thumb test” – whatever catches the reviewer’s eye while thumbing through the textbook.

INTEGRATION The most common application of

printed materials is presenting content information.

Students are given reading assignments and are held accountable for the material during class discussions and on tests.

Teacher made handouts can also complement a teacher’s presentation, or students may use them as they study independently.

UTILIZATION When using printed materials for instruction, one of the main

roles of the teacher is to have students use the “SQ3R” method:

Survey – requires students to scan through the printed material and to read the overview and/or summary.

Question – students write a list of questions to answer while reading.

Read – students are encourage looking for the organization of the material, just brackets around the main ideas, underlining supporting details, and answer the questions written in the previous step.

Recite – requires them to test themselves while reading and to put the content into their own words.

Review – suggests that the learners took-over the material immediately after reading it, the next day, a week later, and so on. (Robinson, 1946)

FREE AND INEXPENSIVE MATERIALS

With the ever increasing units of instructional materials, teachers and trainers should be aware of the variety of materials they may obtain for classroom use at little or no cost.

These free and inexpensive materials can supplement instruction in many subjects; they can be the main source of instruction or certain topics.

Material that you can borrow or acquire permanently for instructional purposes without a significant cost can be referred to as free or inexpensive.

The commonly available items include posters, games, pamphlets, brochures, reports, charts, maps, books, audiotapes, videotape, multimedia kits and real objects.

In addition, many teachers and students are placing their ideas for teaching in array of subjects, along with media and materials, on the Web/Internet.

ADVANTAGES Up to date. Free and inexpensive

materials can provide up-to-date information that is not contained on textbooks or other commercially available media.

In depth treatment. Such materials often provide in depth treatment of a topic. If classroom quantities are available, students can read and discuss printed materials as they would textbook materials. If quantities are limited, you can place them in a learning center for independent or small group study.

Variety of use. These materials lead themselves to your own classroom presentations. Posters, charts, and maps can be combined to create topical displays.

Student manipulation. Materials that are expendable have the extra advantage of allowing learners to get actively involved with them.

LIMITATIONS Bias or advertising. Many free and inexpensive

materials are described as sponsored materials because their production and distribution are sponsored by particular organizations.

Special interest. Propaganda or more subtly biased materials can thus enter the curriculum through the backdoor. Preview carefully and exercise caution when you consider sponsored materials.

Limited quantities. With the increasing expense of producing both printed and mediated materials, your supplier may have to impose limits on the quantities of items available at one time.

SOURCES There are local, national, and

international sources of free and inexpensive materials, and many of these are now available at a website.

Many local government agencies, community groups, and private business provide informational materials on free loan.

OBTAINING MATERIALS When you have determined what you can use

and where you can obtain it, write to the supplier.

For classroom quantities, send just one letter. Be specific and specify at least the subject area and the grade level.

Ask for only what you need. Follow-up with a thank you note to the supplier; mention how you used the materials and what the students’ reactions were.

APPRAISING MATERIALS

As with any other types of material, appraise the educational value of free and inexpensive materials critically.

Use the appropriate appraisal checklist free from objectionable bias or advertising.

Use it judiciously when reviewing free and inexpensive materials.

DISPLAY SURFACES

• CHALKBOARDSOnce called blackboards, they now come in a variety of colors, as does chalk. You can use it as surface in which to draw visuals to help illustrate instructional units.

MULTIPURPOSE BOARDS

They are also called whiteboards or marker boards. As the name implies, you can use them for more than one purpose.

Their smooth, while plastic surface requires a special erasable marker rather than chalk. The white surface is also suitable for projection of video, slides, and overhead transparencies.

COPY BOARDS

A high-tech variation of multipurpose board is the copy board, or electronic whiteboard. This devise makes reduced- size paper copies of what is written on the board.

It looks like a smaller multipurpose board but may contain multiple screens of frames that can be served forward and backward. The special feature is that the frames can be copied in about 10 seconds.

By copying information almost simultaneously, you are free to erase the board and continue to teach without valuable time or ideas.

PEGBOARDS Pegboards are made of tempered Masonite with 1/8 inch holes drilled 1 inch apart. It is particularly useful for displaying heavy objects, three dimensional materials and visuals.

BULLETIN BOARDS

The term bulletin board implies a surface in which bulletins – brief news announcements of urgent interactive posted for public notice.

The decorative bulleting board is probably the most common certainly in school.

Its function is to send visual stimulations to the environment. Displaying student work exemplifies the motivational use of bulletin boards.

Its purpose in instructional is complementing the educational or training objectives of the formal curriculum.

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING YOUR BULLETIN BOARDS

Emphatic. Conveys message quickly and clearly.

Attractive. Color and arrangement catch and hold interest

Balanced. Formal or informal Unified. Repeated shapes or

colors or use of borders hold display together visually

Interactive. Involves the viewer

Legible Lettering and visuals can be read across the room.

Lettered properly. Spelled correctly, plain typeface, use of lowercase except where capitals needed.

Relative. Correlated with lesson objectives

Durable. Well constructed physically, items securely attended

Neat and clean, neat appearance, makes the display more attractive, shows the designer has regard for the audience, and provides a proper role model for student work.

CLOTH BOARDS

Cloth boards are instructed of cloth stretched over a sturdy backing material such as plywood, masonite or heavy cardboard, the cloth used for the board may be of various or types, including flannel, felt, or hook and loop material.

Teachers of reading and other creative activities often use the cloth board to illustrate stories, poems and other reading materials.

MAGNETIC BOARDS Magnetic board serves much the

same purpose as cloth boards. Any metal surface in the

classroom to which you can attach a magnet can serve as a magnetic board.

The major advantage is that maneuvering visuals is easier and quicker that with cloth board.

For example, physical education instructors often use them to demonstrate rapid changes in player positions. Visual displayed in a magnetic board us not likely to skip or fall because it has a greater adhesive quality.

• FLIP CHARTS It is a pad of lard papers fastened together at the top and mounted to an easel. The individual sheets each hold a limited verbal/visual message and usually are arranged for sequential presentation to a small group. Audience members seem to regard flip chart in friendly terms. It seems casual and comfortable, a pleasing change of pare in an increasingly high technology world.

• EXHIBITSExhibits are collections of various objects and visuals designed to form and integrated whole for instructional purposes.

Two Types (Displays and Dioramas)

• Displays. A display is an array of objects, visual and printed materials, student assembly of display can be a motivating learning experience.

• It can fasten retention of subject matter and sharpen visual skills.

• Dioramas. Dioramas are static displays consisting a three dimensional foreground and a flat background is usually a landscape of some sort with models of people, animals, vehicles, equipment, or buildings.

• It is basically contained with in a box, with the sides of the box providing or backdrop. It is usually designed to produce past or present scenes and events or to detect future once.