Teaching Aptitude Test - 7

 NCF 2005 or National Curriculum Framework is a document that seeks to present a framework within which schools and teachers can select and plan experiences that they feel all children should have. 

• The latest NCF was published in 2005. The document offers a framework for making textbooks, syllabi, as well as teaching practices within the educational programs in Indian schools.

Key PointsCurriculum development means planning and designing a curriculum, deciding about the process of its implementation and evaluation according to the needs of learners within the framework of policies and plans of education in any country

The present NCF proposes five guiding principles for curriculum development:

•  connecting knowledge to life outside the school.
•  ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods.
•  enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks.
•  making examinations more flexible and integrating them with classroom life, and nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country.

Thus, from the above-mentioned principles, we can conclude that The primary aim of NCF in curriculum development and reform is making curriculum inclusive and meaningful to children.

Additional Information NCF 2005 also emphasizes on learning and construction of knowledge:

•  Correspondence between learner development and learning is intrinsic to curricular practices.
•  Knowledge is different from information.
•  Organizing learning experiences for the construction of knowledge and creativity.
•  Connecting knowledge across disciplinary boundaries for insightful construction of knowledge.
•  Learning experiences for developing critical perspectives on social issues.
•  Plurality of text books and other material incorporating local knowledge mediated through constitutional values and principles.

A school curriculum is a complete set of organized experiences in the school. It includes aims, objectives, teaching content, teaching strategies, and all teaching-learning aids to cater totality of student's experiences that occur in the educational process.

Key Points

• Identification of learning objectives is the first step in process of curriculum development. It is necessary to identify the learning objectives and the needs of the student. 
• The specific objectives are identified and written in behavioral terms. These may be cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
• The classification of educational objectives given by B.S.Bloom is used for this purpose. 

Important Points

Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models that refers to the classification of educational learning objectives.

In the taxonomy, Bloom identified three domains of learning which include cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.

• Cognitive domains: It is concerned with acquiring skills that require to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create.
• Psychomotor domains: It is concerned with acquiring skills that require the integration of mental and physical movements.
• Affective domains: It is concerned with acquiring skills that require to deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation, etc.

Hence, it could be concluded that the curriculum should be determined on the basis of Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor domains.

Developing children's abilities for mathematization is the main goal of mathematics education.

Important Points

• The narrow aim of school mathematics is to develop 'useful' capabilities, particularly those relating to numeracy–numbers, number operations, measurements, decimals, and percentages.
• The higher aim is to develop the child's resources to think and reason mathematically, to pursue assumptions to their logical conclusion and to handle abstraction. It includes a way of doing things, and the ability and the attitude to formulate and solve problems.
• This calls for a curriculum that is ambitious, coherent, and teaches important principles of mathematics.
  • It should be ambitious in the sense that it seeks to achieve the higher aim mentioned above, rather than only the narrower aim.
  • It should be coherent in the sense that the variety of methods and skills available piecemeal (in arithmetic, algebra, geometry) cohere into an ability to address problems that come from other domains such as science and social studies in high school.
  • It should be important in the sense that students feel the need to solve such problems, that teachers and students find it worth their time and energy to address these problems.

Hence, we can conclude that all of the above is the correct answer.

NCF-2005 is the national curriculum framework published in 2005, by the national council of education, research, and training (NCERT). It is the official document which states that the curriculum must be student-centric and beyond the textbooks.

Key Points

According to NCF-2005,

• Instead of focusing on textbook knowledge, the children should be encouraged to perform research and experiments to build a conceptual understanding of scientific concepts on their own.
• The children should recognize the science concepts through hands-on activities and experiments and it is not necessary that they have to strictly follow the inductive approach of inquiry as they can follow and discover their own path of learning.
• The concepts should be taught through an inter-disciplinary approach so that students can relate to the subject matter and develop a core understanding of the issues related to health, hygiene, environment, and science.
• The tests should be taken on a written and experimental basis and an open book examination may be promoted to stimulate the thinking beyond mere recalling conceptual knowledge.
• The practice of giving grades and failing students i.e., detention policy should be avoided throughout the primary stage but necessary steps should be taken to organize periodic assessments of learners through unit tests, term tests, etc.

Hence, it is concluded that the NCF 2005 does not recommend that approach of teaching science is followed emphasizing teaching science as a single subject and more stress should be given to textbook knowledge.

Learning is a sequence of events that we can recall for a long period, and hence, it offers experience and the behavioural changes through learning are relatively permanent. 
NOTE: Refer to the table for further information 

Hence, we conclude that Formal education is a process of education which is organised in a precise way curriculum bound and examination-oriented.

The social curriculum is a means to teach students how to interact and empathize with one another. It is how to ensure students feel good about themselves and their relationships. When students learn a social curriculum they are socially aware and emotionally intelligent.

Key Points Objectives of Social Curriculum -

• Development of good citizenship: The study of the subject Social Sciences should essentially contribute in helping the youngsters for growing and developing into effective and efficient citizens of their country. 

• Development of social character: The study of Social Sciences should help in the proper development of sociability and social character among growing children. 

• Intellectual and mental development: Study of Social Sciences should be made to contribute to the proper intellectual and mental development of the children.

• Development of the right type of behavior and conduct: Good conduct and morality are the prime needs of the time. 

• Developing the ability to adjust to one’s environment: Adjustment with one’s physical and social environment is quite essential for personal or social welfare and progress. 
• Development of the feelings of cooperation and interdependence: Mutual cooperation, love, trust, and interdependence are the basic pillars of our social life. 
• Development of healthy habits and right attitudes: The teaching of Social Sciences in our schools also aims for the development of desirable habits, interests, and attitudes among the children. 

Hence, from the above points, it is clear that the main objective of the social curriculum is to socialize among the students.

Practical works include activities like investigation, laboratory techniques & procedures, fieldwork in order to develop the student's learning by enabling them the key scientific concepts and phenomenon by demonstrations.

• Practical work helps the students to acquire essential skills and give a fluid transition to higher study.
• It provides the students with the first-hand experience in exploring how the principles work behind the theoretical concepts thus reducing dependency on over-emphasis on theoretical theory.
• It induces the spirit of scientific inquiry within the learners which aids in developing the critical thinking capability and problem-solving ability.
• It facilitates learning in the classroom. With the aid of practical activity, lesson dissemination is aptly done along with engagement and knowledge retention.
• The Clarity of the learning outcome is associated with practical work.

Most practitioners would agree that good-quality practical work can engage students, help them to develop important skills, help them to understand the process of scientific investigation, and develop their understanding of concepts but most importantly it reduces over-emphasis on theory.

Therefore, the main purpose of including practical work in the curriculum is to reduce over-emphasis on theory.

Curriculum:

• It is a totality of all the deliberately planned set of activities that facilitate learning
• It is an entire programme of study that explains what concepts are to be transacted, what knowledge, attitudes, skills are to be developed among children
• It is a structured document that outlines the goals, objectives, learning experiences, instructional resources and assessments that makes a specific educational programme.
• It outlines a basic framework for what to do, how to do it, when to do it and how to know if it has been achieved.

Ever since 1986 when the National Policy on Education was approved by Parliament, efforts to redesign the curriculum have been focused on the creation of a national system of education.

Key Points

National Curriculum Framework (NCF):

• NPE proposed a national framework for curriculum as a means of evolving a national system of education capable of responding to India’s diversity of geographical and cultural milieus while ensuring a common core of values along with academic components.
• The NPE (1986) entrusted NCERT with the responsibility of developing the National Curriculum Framework and reviewing the framework at frequent intervals.
• The National Curriculum Framework 2005 is an official document laying down the needs of the school system of India envisioning the Constitution of India upholding all its tenets.
• The main purpose was to reduce the curriculum load, remove the anomalies in the system and to create a consensus with the help of new syllabi in the form of a thematically organized body of knowledge. 

Hence, it is clear that the National Curriculum Framework was developed by the NCERT.

Important Points

The Five Basic Tenets of the NCF 2005:

• Connecting knowledge to life outside the school.
• Ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods.
• Enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks.
• Making examinations more flexible and integrating them with classroom life, and
• Nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country.

Additional Information

• University Grants Commission (UGC): It came into existence on 28th December 1953 and became a statutory Organization of the Government of India by an Act of Parliament in 1956, for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in university education.
• National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): The NCTE, as a statutory body came into existence in pursuance of the National Council for Teacher Education Act on the 17th August 1995. The main objective of the NCTE is to achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country.
• Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE): It was reconstituted in the year 1962. The main objectives were to serve the educational institutions more effectively, to be responsive to the educational needs of those students whose parents were employed in the Central Government and had frequently transferable jobs.

Zero Curriculum (also known as Null Curriculum/Excluded Curriculum).

Important Points

• The Null Curriculum is that which is not taught. Sometimes the teacher ignores some content or skill, deliberately or unknowingly.
• A teacher may consider some ideas unimportant and ignore them. Similarly, teachers may avoid detailed descriptions of some topic for one or another reason, for example, evolution in Biology.
• Sometimes also, the learner fails to learn certain knowledge, skills, or attitude for various reasons.

When a topic is never taught:

• "too unimportant..."
• "too controversial..."
• "too inappropriate..."
• "not worth the time..."
• "not essential..."   

Additional Information Curriculum: In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. 
Some types of curriculum: 

• Subject-based curriculum: A subject-based curriculum is one that is divided into different subjects like maths or history. Each subject is distinct and there is little focus on making cross-curricular links.
• Learner-based curriculum: Learner-centered curriculum focus primarily on individual students' learning. This design emphasizes individual development. This approach is to organize the curriculum on the basis of LEARNER’S Needs and Interests 
• Activity/experienced-based curriculum: When course material is taught in the form of an activity or hands-on project, the curriculum is considered activity-based. Each activity or project in an activity-based curriculum serves as the means for students to learn concepts and skills.  
• Over/explicit/written curriculum: The Written Curriculum is a practicable plan as it is the result of a compromise between the ideals recommended by the experts and the real situations suggested by the teachers, pupils, and parents.
• Hidden/implicit/convert/silent/invisible curriculum: The hidden curriculum is all those things that we teach in schools that aren’t written down in syllabus documents.
• Null curriculum: The Null Curriculum is that which is not taught. Sometimes the teacher ignores some content or skill, deliberately or unknowingly. A teacher may consider some ideas unimportant and ignore them. 
• Emergent curriculum: Emergent curriculum is based on the premise that children are most successful at learning when curriculum experiences account for their interests, strengths, needs, and lived realities. 

Hence, the right answer to this question is a curriculum that teachers do not teach is Zero curriculum.