Teaching Aptitude Test - 9

Important PointsAccording to the National Curriculum Framework 2005, the science curriculum should aim at :

• addressing the development of process skills like observation, classification, measurement, communication, etc.
• encouraging inventiveness as the children are considered to be young explorers.
• acquisition and understanding of knowledge, development of problem-solving skills, the skill of investigation, and the ability to think logically and to draw conclusions based on experiments.
• development of the ability to reach generalizations and to apply them to solving everyday problems.
• achieving equity.
• development of understanding of inter-relationships of science and society. to foster creativity in people, enabling them to carry out innovations in science.
• encouraging reforms in the examination system as there is a need for a shift from teacher-centered to student-centered curriculum and from rote memorization to a meaning-making process.

​Hence According to the National Curriculum Framework 2005, the science curriculum should aim at addressing all of the following, except improving students’ scores in exams because this may restrict the students to only study for the marks not for gaining knowledge.

Archimedes' principle states that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces. 

Important Points

Here Engaging the students in floating and sinking activities with carefully selected materials will be the best because here students

• get an opportunity to compare various objects' densities by involving in the sinking and floating activities.
• get the same feeling that Archimedes got while he formulated the principle.
• comprehend the concept clearly and remember for a long time because learning by doing happens here.
• clear all the doubts they get because they are not passive, they are involved in the activity.
• develop into young explorers and think innovatively.

Hence option 2 is the correct one.

Anecdotal records are short narrations or factual descriptions of certain incidents and events that a teacher observes in the context of her research interest. Each incident is written shortly after it takes place. Key Points

• Who is switching the fan off when not in use?
• Who is switching the light in the daytime when sunlight is there?
• Who is turning off the taps when they finish using them?
• Who is not doing the above and wasting energy sources?

​Hence Observing students and maintaining anecdotal records would be the most appropriate strategy to assess the students’ energy-conserving behavior.​

Additional Information

All the above-mentioned three tools are not appropriate to assess the students’ energy-conserving behavior because her teacher can't observe a student doing energy-saving activities.

The class test is conducted formally where the teacher gives some questions to students and they apply their learned knowledge and write the answers in the given time. Later that test will be evaluated by the teacher and appropriate marks will be given. Key PointsA class test can't be adopted to assess learners' skills in a science classroom because

• As the class test is formal and conducted in a restricted environment learners can't express themselves and their skills freely.
• Class test only focuses on scholastic areas.
• Other areas like social, nonscholastic, and creative skills will be ignored.

​Hence class tests can't be adopted to assess the skills of learners in a science classroom. Additional Information

Creating a democratic classroom environment means involving students, regularly and in developmentally appropriate ways, in shared decision making that increases their responsibility for helping to make the classroom a good place to be and learn.Key Points

Features of a democratic environment 

• Freedom for expression of everyone's ideas.
• The teacher acts as a facilitator just supporting students by not enforcing his ideas on them.
• Everyone has a role in learning so sharing of responsibility is there.
• A class contains slow learners, fast learners, and average students as well, everyone's needs are fulfilled so diversity is respected.
• Students get ample opportunities to explore, experiment, and learn. 

Additional Information

On the other hand, A democratic science learning environment doesn't include teacher authority because teacher authority comes under a teacher-centered environment where students remain passive.

Assessment is a process that is intended to measure knowledge, skill, and aptitude. It includes various types of tests and each is specialized for a particular type of function. Assessment is a broad term that includes testing.

 Key Points

• The above-mentioned example is related to Norm-Reference Test as it is conducted to know the relative position rank of the students in a well-defined population or group.
• Norm-Referenced is the traditional class-based assignment of numerals to the attribute being measured. 
  It is an attempt to interpret the test results in terms of the performance of a certain group. This group is a norms group because it serves as a referent of the norm for making the judgment. 
• It is used to ascertain an individual’s status with respect to the performance of other individuals on that test.
• The purpose is to produce response variance, i.e., to see the extent to which an individual varies or differs from the performance of the group to which she/he belongs or does not belong.
• Almost all our classroom tests, standardized tests, and public examinations are NRT as they are interpreted in terms of a particular class, and judgments are formed with reference to the class which is considered as a type.​

From the above points, it is clear that the above-mentioned example is related to Norm-Reference Test.

Hint

• Criterion-Referenced Test refers to the test which compares a learner with a predetermined standard or cut score rather than comparing him/her with other learners. CTET, UGC NET, NEET, etc are examples of the Criterion-Referenced Test.
• A diagnostic test refers to the test which helps the teachers to know the learning difficulties or gaps in learners' understanding and identify learners' strengths, weaknesses, skills, etc.
• Aptitude Test: It is used to determine the student's cognitive ability and personality. It aims at measuring the potential of a person in a particular field and are mainly designed and used for career and employment decisions.

Induction is a form of reasoning in which a general law is derived from a study of particular objects or specific processes. The child can use measurement, manipulatory or constructive activities, patterns, etc., to discover a relationship which he shall later formulate in symbolic form as a law or rule. The law, the rule, or definition formulated by the child is the summation of all the particular or individual instances. In all induction, the generalization that is evolved is regarded as a tentative conclusion.  Key PointsCharacteristics of the inductive method

• Proceeds from particular to general and concrete to abstract.
• Used to prove and generalize theorems.
• Starts from observation and direct experiences and ends in developing a rule in abstract form.
• Encourages discovery and stimulates thinking.
• The "how" and "why" of the rule/ generalization are made clear through reasoning.  

Additional Information

Nature of concepts in mathematics.Key Points

• Hierarchical in nature concepts are arranged in a particular order where the students progress from one to another according to their cognitive ability of the student.
• Logical in nature as mathematics relies on logic rather than on observation as its standard of truth. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal systems of logic such as their expressive or deductive power.
• Abstract in nature, if we take the example of the circle to sphere the abstractness of ‘concept’ expands since roundness is different from, a circle which in turn is different from a sphere. At a later stage, the abstractness grows to various other related concepts of circle and sphere such as diameter, radius, perimeter, volume, and so on. Thus we may conclude that every mathematical concept gives rise to more such concepts and hence abstractness widens.
• It deals with quantitative facts and relationships.
• Mathematics is the science of Space and Numbers.

Hint 

• Mathematics is not concrete because the process of moving from the concrete to the abstract scenario is known, appropriately enough, as an abstraction. Through abstraction, the underlying essence of a mathematical concept can be extracted. People no longer have to depend on real-world objects, as was once the case, to solve a mathematical puzzle.

Assessment plays an important role for children in primary classes. The purpose of assessment in primary schools is to provide information on the performance of a child at a point in time or over the school year. The results are used to plan ongoing learning and whole-school evaluation. Key Points

A test based on recalling facts and formulae is not an appropriate assessment method for primary class children because

• It involves rote memorization which is not an assessing parameter.
• Recalling facts and formulae doesn't indicate meaningful learning.
• Recalling makes the student limited in terms of thinking.
• Here the students may understand the formulae or they may remember blindly.

Hence a test based on recalling facts and formulae is not an appropriate assessment method for primary class children.

Additional InformationOn the other hand, a subjective test according to the learning levels of children, using ICT-based tools for assessment, and using concept maps are appropriate assessment methods for primary class children because they involve meaningful learning and effective parameters which can be considered for assessment.

Geoboard is a tool for exploring a variety of mathematical topics introduced in the elementary and middle grades. Learners stretch bands around the pegs to form line segments and polygons and make discoveries about perimeter, area, angles, congruence, fractions, and more. It consists of a wood board with evenly spaced rows of nails or a plastic board with protruding pegs around which string or rubber bands are wrapped. Key Points

Geo-board helps students to :

• comprehend mathematical concepts effectively by utilizing concrete objects and experiencing real situations.
• test and experience theoretical knowledge and discover different mathematical properties of various geometrical objects.
• enhances the interest and motivation of learners to learn mathematics.
• provide a better learning experience that helps learners to relate geometrical concepts with their daily life activities and nature.
• promote ndividual learning while engaged with geo-boards as learners engage in an exploration of mathematical contents in their way.

​Hence the most appropriate reason for introducing Geo-board-based activities could be to provide concrete representations for many investigations into geometrical concepts.​