Teaching Application of Theory into Practice
Student teachers read theories
in the teacher education curricula at all levels in education but seldom do
they understand the connection of theory to their practical teaching. If you
ask any of the practicing teachers, rarely would any of them be using theories
in their classroom teaching. No doubt, that there is a vast gap between theory
and practice which has surely been neglected in our country. Teachers’
lack of abilities to apply theory into their teaching has been impacting their
teaching efficiency and is probably the reason that our education system is
producing hordes of degree holders but not critical or creative minds.
Scientists and scholars
have been studying teaching and learning processes for ages. Scientists studied
multifarious aspects of human beings such as physical, mental, emotional,
developmental, cognitive, and came up with certain conclusions that came to us
in the form of theories. We know that scientific products are based on certain
scientific principles, rules, laws, or theories, the process of educating a
child and even an adult must also be based on specific rules, laws, or theories.
Just like the laws of
gravitation pertain to the motion of planets, or conservation of energy governs
the production of electricity, or the laws of aerodynamic forces govern the
flying of airplanes, is it not intelligible that the gigantic process of
teaching/learning must be governed by some philosophies too? A human mind is the most
complicated and intricate creation. Do you think that a teacher takes up the content and can just shovel it into the minds of
students? Well, that must not be the case. There is a lot going on behind the
teaching-learning process. There is the learner’s personality, his/her mind, social, emotional, and psychological development, etc. In that connection, for
example, Piaget explained the developmental stages of children which can help
the teacher determine what kind of knowledge the child is ready to take up
developmentally or how learners process new information.
The teacher intends the
learner to learn the content at different levels. At some point they just want
the learner to memorize the content while at another instance the content is
intended to be understood and conceptualized. The teacher might intend the
learner to discern its working in nature and be able to apply it to other
situations or to be able to create something else using the taught concepts. Bloom's
taxonomy comes to play here which gives six levels of learning objectives which
are essential for teachers to understand and apply. The teacher then needs to
apply different teaching techniques using the behavioral, cognitive, or
constructivist theories to attain the teaching objectives of different levels
in Bloom's taxonomy.
Our teachers are taught
all the theories and philosophies during their professional education, but they
have no idea about the connection of those philosophies to their teaching
practice. Although the usual or common techniques used in classroom teaching might be falling
into some theory or philosophy, but teachers generally don’t have an intricate
understanding of the working of theories in their practice. Lack of
sophisticated knowledge and ignorance of the connection of theories and
philosophies bar the teacher to plan and apply suitable methods and practices
of teaching in delivering their content aligned to their objectives.
Owing to the fundamental
importance of theories and philosophies in the teaching/ learning process, and
the lack thereof in classroom teaching necessitates that special emphasis is
given on the theory into practice aspect in the teacher preparation programs.
Moreover, a specialized course on theory into practice is highly recommended in
the programs where prospective teachers are solely taught the application of
theories into their classroom teaching.
