Annotation:
In my contribution Y present selected results of a video-study of geography.
Video-records of 50 geography lessons on “Natural conditions of the Czech
Republic” were the subject of the analyses. We present the results of a ratio
analysis showing what organisational forms are applied in individual phases.
Key
words: video-study, organisational phase, organisational forms, ratio analysis
The research project video study of Geography has been
realised on the 2nd level of basic schools and in lower classes of
grammar schools in Brno region in the course of 2005 – 2007. We analysed
video-records of 50 geography lessons on “natural conditions of the Czech
Republic” recorded in a standard way in 8th and 9th
classes of selected schools (see Hübelová 2006, in detail). In the
video-study we strive to investigate such categories as teaching, learning, subject matter in their dynamics, complexity,
mutual cohesion and conditionality. By means of lesson analysis we focused on
various aspects of geography teaching, particularly at teaching phases and
forms that are applied in teaching units. After that it was possible to
approach the ratio analysis, in which we tried to find out in what phases what
teaching forms are used.
The goal of video study of Geography is to penetrate
to methodological and methodical aspects of geography teaching in the above
mentioned classes and thus to contribute to finding answers to questions, in
what way and under what conditions the content of education in teaching process
of this subject is being formed. A general goal of the investigation was to
describe what are the conditions that the basic school on this level offers. In
the contribution we present one of the partial goals:
·
To find out in what mutual relation are phases and forms of the
teaching process.
Taking into account that video study of Geography was focused at the analysis of really
performed teaching processes and learning, we asked the following research
question:
·
What is the proportion of organisational forms in individual phases of
the teaching process?
In order to get data
needed for the ratio analysis, it was necessary to code individual
video-recordings of lessons. Coding is understood as a registration of
phenomena observed on a video-record in a given system of categories (cp.
Gavora 1998). The system of categories, which was elaborated for coding video
studies of Physics at the Institute for methodology of science in Kiel (Seidel et al. 2003), was translated and
adapted for the purpose of video studies of Physics (cp. Janík,
Miková 2006) and after minor adjustments also used for video study of Geography (Hübelová,
Janík 2007). The system of categories differentiates three main areas of
analysis of video-recordings of lessons: length of the teaching process, phases
of the teaching process, organisation forms of the teaching process. People
doing the coding had to go through proper schooling to be able to code the
observed phenomena in the same, or satisfactorily similar way. In the coding
framework it is necessary to reach an acceptable proportion of
inter-rate-reliability, i.e. conformity in between individual coders (Cohens
Kappa > 70, direct
conformity > 85%). This demand
was in video study of Geography fulfilled.
What is the mutual relation between organisation forms and phases of
the teaching process?
Organisation forms
in the video study context represent a key element in the structure of a
lesson. Organisation forms of a teaching process relate to the way in what the
conditions for the realisation of the educational content are set (cp. Maňák
2003). The responsibility for the dividing and controlling the work content in
the framework of organisational forms in most cases bears the teacher. The
methodological category of the teaching process phase relates to a process
aspect of teaching. As stated by J. Maňák (2003, p. 26)), the
phases of teaching sectionalise “the
teaching process into certain sequences, which cannot be understood as isolated
and closed-time units but as variable moments of a teaching process, that every
teaching process and every teaching process type necessarily involves in
itself”.
The investigation
and determination of the relations between the organisational forms and the
phases of a teaching process enabled a detailed analysis of a teaching process
and specified the structure of geography teaching units more precisely. This
ratio analysis represents a possibility “to
comprehend the entirety of functioning of individual factors in a teaching
process” (Janík, Miková 2006, p. 99).
Table 1: Relations between phases and organisational forms of a
teaching process.
|
Organisational forms of teaching
|
|||||||||
Phases of teaching
|
|
explanation/ lecture/ instruction |
dictation |
class talk |
individual work |
work in souples |
work in groups |
more forms |
transition |
others |
|
revision |
30,68 % |
5,50 % |
58,86 % |
4,95 % |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
subject matter introduction |
96,67 % |
1,11 % |
2,22 % |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
new sub. mat. |
51,94 % |
16,11 % |
22,11 % |
7,65 % |
- |
2,19 % |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
s. m. drills/strengthening |
5,54 % |
1,68 % |
31,20 % |
61,59 % |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
s. m. apolication/deepening |
56,77 % |
0,58 % |
32,28 % |
8,36 % |
- |
- |
2,02 % |
- |
- |
|
|
s. m. summary |
7,84 % |
81,56 % |
1,08 % |
9,40 % |
- |
- |
- |
- |
0,12 % |
|
|
summing-up |
100,00 % |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
examining/testing/ homework check |
0,77 % |
5,10 % |
24,71 % |
64,45 % |
- |
- |
- |
0,03 % |
4,93 % |
|
|
others |
0,06 % |
0,17 % |
1,47 % |
0,06 % |
- |
- |
- |
77,71 % |
20,53 % |
|
The phase of revision usually appeared in the
observed geography teaching in two cases. Either at the beginning of the
lesson, or it mingled with the explanation/lecture/instruction
of the teacher, when the teacher referred to the subject matter from
previous lessons or years concurring with the new subject matter. In most cases
this revision took place as an
occasion for a talk initiated by the teacher and pupils on what they learned
either in previous lessons or in previous years. The phase of revision was almost in all cases in the
form of a class talk (59 %) or as explanation/lecture/instruction of the
teacher (31 %). Dictation and individual work forms participated in
the revision phase in the same amount
(5 %).
In the phase of subject matter introduction the main
role was played by the teacher who usually announced the pupils the theme of
the lesson and described very briefly what subject matter will be taught and
what will be the content of the lesson from the methodical point of view. The subject matter introduction had almost
in all cases the form of explanation/lecture/
instruction of the teacher (97 %). Only in 2 % it was in the form of a class talk and in 1 % as a dictation. In the course of the subject matter introduction phase we did
not record any teacher’s discussion with the pupils on their knowledge of the
subject matter being prepared or what from the given theme they are interested
in. The transcript analysis also showed that almost none subject matter introduction phase involved any motivation element
for learning of the pupils.
In the phase of new subject matter explanation the
teacher took the initiative in almost all cases. Most often, he exposed the subject matter explanation (in 52 %), in
which the pupils could not get in. In the other case the teacher guided a class talk (in 22 %) where the subject
matter was deduced. The pupils got chance to express their view usually in the
frame of closed questions only, asked by the teacher, or the pupils were
finishing the incomplete sentences of the teacher. Sometimes also appeared such
situations, naturally, when pupils in the class
talk asked questions that were then discussed but only when they “touched
the point”. If they did not, the teacher usually did not react or rebuked the
pupil not to disturb with notes not touching the issue. In 16 % the subject
matter was delivered in the form of a dictation.
A positive aspect is that at least 8 % of pupils had to deduce the new subject
matter in the form of individual work
and 2 % in group work.
For the phase of subject matter drills and deepening is
typical that the work is being done with the subject matter that has been
already taught. Thus, many possibilities are offered for using work forms
oriented on pupils (individual work, work in couples, work in groups) but the
observed geography teachers were not able to utilise it in satisfactory way.
The phase of subject matter drills and
strengthening was usually performed via task solving at desks in the form of
individual work (61 %). The subject
matter was also exercised in the form of
class talk (31 %), in the form of explanation/lecture
(6 %) or dictation (2 %). Work in couples or work in groups were not used for the phase of subject matter drills and strengthening in any lesson.
In the phase of subject matter application and deepening, the
prevailing form was the class talk (57
%), explanation/lecture/instruction of
the teacher (32 %) and predominantly had a form of an
application of a theoretical content aspect of the subject matter into the real
life and environment. The phase also used the form of individual work (8 %) and the form of more forms simultaneously (2
%), and in the form of dictation (1
%). The difference between the phase subject
matter application /deepening and the phase subject matter drills/strengthening was that pupils in the first
case applied the subject matter knowledge in practical task solution and in
problematic contexts. It was the part of the teaching process where the pupils
could, thanks to the application, comprehend the subject matter more deeply,
but, unfortunately in geography teaching it occurred in relatively short-time
segment.
The phase subject
matter summary was most frequently done in the form of a dictation (82 %).
In other forms it
was evenly displaced between individual
work (9 %) and teacher’s explanation (8
%) and only in 1 % was as class talk. The
main form in this phase predominantly was pupils’ copying the notes (from the
blackboard, over-head projector, data projector) usually at the end of the
lesson and also dictation of the teacher in the course of the explanation of a
new subject matter. The subject matter record was realised in almost all
observed lessons. The goal of the phase subject
matter summary was to organise and structure the subject mater taught.
Pupils in case of need used it for clearing-up the subject mater.
The phase summing-up was missing in almost all
observed lessons. When it appeared it was realised by the teacher in the form
of explanation (100 %).
The phase examining/ testing/homework check gives
the teacher a possibility to evaluate the performances of the pupils. Oral and
written examining provides space for independent knowledge demonstrations of
the pupils. The phase examining/
testing/homework check was usually done in the form of independent work (64 %). Most teachers used the time of oral
examining one pupil at the blackboard for task solving of other pupils in the
form of individual work. In the phase
examining/ testing/homework check was
also used the form of a class talk (25
%). In such cases the teacher strove to involve more pupils in the examination
of one, in some cases without a good result because of misbehaviour of the
class. This fact influenced the position of the form others (5 %). The form of dictation
(5 %) and explanation/
lecture/
instruction of the teacher (1 %) stand here in a small amount only, mainly in
the frame of homework checking.
The phase others did not involve the subject
matter directly, the issue were organisational matters mainly. It was connected
with the form transition (78 %) and others (20 %).
Thanks to the ratio
analysis of the teaching process phases and other organisational forms it is
obvious that in the 50 observed geography lessons, the individual phases of the
teaching process were usually realised in certain dominant organisational
forms. In total, the prevailing phases and work forms were those where the
teacher was more active than the pupils. Individual phases of the teaching
process were usually realised in certain dominant organisational forms. In the
phases of subject matter introduction,
summing-up, subject matter application/deepening and new subject matter explanation, the form of explanation/lecture/instruction of the teacher was predominantly
applied. In the phases: subject matter
introduction, summing-up, subject matter application/deepening and new subject matter explanation, was
predominantly applied the form of explanation/lecture/
instruction of the teacher. The phase revision
was in most cases realised in the form of class talk. In the phases examining/testing/homework
check and subject matter
drills/strengthening, the prevailing form was individual work.
Discussion of the results
On the basis of the
analyses we came to the conclusion that the teachers linked particular teaching
phases and forms with certain expectations, as to their own activities or, on
the contrary, to the activities of the pupils. From the point of view of the
pupils, the organisational forms of the teaching process usually are
monotonous, they were predominantly oriented on listening, mainly in the phase new subject matter explanation.
For the work with
the taught subject matter - besides individual
work, there is an offer of a great deal of occasions for using co-operative
forms of work oriented on pupils. As the analyses of the classes of video study of Geography have shown, the
segment of activities supporting co-operation of pupils – work in couples and work in
groups – was very small, which can be considered as one shortcomings of the
investigated teaching. There might be many reasons for the absence of
co-operative forms (e.g. enormous time pressure on the vast geography teaching
matter, age limitation of pupils, etc.).
Individual teachers
of the investigated set markedly varied, among others, in their skill and ways
how to work with the taught subject matter and then how to drill or revise the
taught matter with the pupils. The teachers seem to consider simultaneously revision as verifying what the pupils
remembered. Deeper understanding of the content and the ability of the pupils
to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in problem tasks could be seen in
this verification very seldom.
It was also proved that the
teacher’s work was often bound on concrete work conditions of the place. The
teaching unit and individual phases of the teaching process and organisational
forms of teaching were usually limited by certain time and space. The course of
the teaching process was markedly influenced by material facilities, e.g. if it
took place in a specialised classroom, computer classroom, or ordinary
classroom.
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