Use of modern teachings aids in classrooms in India

Since time immemorial man is a continuous learner. He always learnt things for a better living. Whatever little man learns, he / she keeps passing the acquired knowledge / information to his next generations for the benefit and welfare of the mankind instead of keeping the knowledge within himself.

The process of transferring of information from one generation to the other lead to the Teaching–Learning process and the necessity of teaching was felt by man. The whole process of teaching and learning, lead to a very important system in the society which came to be known as the education system. In this process, the teacher and the taught are involved. A teacher is a person who transfers the acquired knowledge to the other person while a taught is a person who acquires knowledge from the teacher. Since ages Mother Nature has been considered the best teacher of man.

Teaching aids:

Incorporation and relevance of teachings aids:

Conventional aids of teaching:

• Blackboard, chalk and duster:
  These are the most common aids of teaching in almost all the educational institutions, particularly schools, in India. These aids help the teacher in demonstrating and instructing the students. Chalks, which are cheaper, can extensively used for writing on the blackboards and at the same time, these writings can easily be erased by using a duster. These can be used repeatedly by erasing and rewriting. These aids have gained much popularity in India as these are cost effective as well.


• Maps / globes, charts and pointer:
  Maps and charts in the classroom teaching are another important aids and are very helpful to the students as well as teachers in the education process. Maps and charts enhance the curiosity and interest in the student and they are keen in learning things. Maps and charts give a clear picture of what is being taught by the teacher and very useful in giving a clear concept of what is being taught.
  
  Use of globe in the classroom is equally important for teaching geography lessons. These are much helpful in demonstrating various scientific activities / events like day and night formation, occurrence of eclipses and the like.
  
  Charts / models are useful while teaching Science to the students as these would help in making the students more attentive and interested in the subject and attract their attention. Mainly models used in explaining science or geography lesson are very effective as they arouse interest in the students. It also draws the attention of the students from getting distorted in the class. A pointer in the same manner helps the teacher in pointing out specific locations or rivers or so in a map or specific parts of an organ or so in a chart while teaching science. These pointers are helpful to the students as well when they are asked to point out a specific thing by the teacher.


• Text materials:
  Text books are extensively used in the educational institutions. Apart from the prescribed text books, there are other texts which help in the process of teaching like novels, story books, essay and letter-writing books, general knowledge books, dictionaries and the like. The text materials even include printed texts, worksheets, coloring sheets and the like.


• Apparatus in science labs:
  Apparatus in the labs are very useful and effective in teaching science lessons in the classroom. Apparatus like a hand lens, microscope, magnets, prism, test tubes and many more are some of the useful teaching aids in the day-to-day classroom.


• Classroom skits:
  Small plays enacted by students mostly in the language classes, help in explaining languages. These create interest among the students towards the language and help in improving their verbal skills.


• Mathematical / geometrical instruments:
  These include the aids like abacus, geometry boxes and other mathematical instruments. These help the students in having a better concept of the subject.


• Play items for the kindergarten:
  Plays items or toys are the best teaching aids for kindergarten / Montessori teaching. Kids get attracted towards toys / play items. These provide good knowledge and are very effective in concept forming in children. Almost all the kindergarten schools use a number of toys for making the children learn various things in a playful manner.

Use of modern aids of teaching in Indian classrooms

• Whiteboards:
  These are the boards with a white surface which can easily be wiped. These have substituted the traditional blackboards and are commonly used in workshops, conferences, presentations etc. These boards are commonly used by several users on which writings, pictures and graphics can easily be drawn with the help of a marker pen. However, these cannot fully replace the blackboards in traditional Indian classrooms.


• Overhead projectors:
  Overhead projectors are one of the wonderful teaching aids that can be incorporated in classroom teaching. These can be used as a substitute for large, hanging classroom maps / charts as these can be projected into much larger sizes on a whiteboard or on a white canvas. These enable the students to have a clear concept of the lesson. Maps can often be drawn on by erasable markers. There is no need to use a pointer and other huge roll-up maps / charts to deal with the classroom teaching.


• Audio aids:
  Hearing aids like cassettes, CDs and recorders were in used in the process of learning of English language. These aids were effective in improving the phonetics, pronunciation and spoken English of the students. But these aids have not gained much popularity and hence its no more in use.
  
  Few international schools in India are equipped with the necessary audio aids in special labs with overhead phones where the students are given individual attention. This helps in improving communication skills. However, all the schools cannot incorporate its use as it involves expensive infrastructure which is beyond the reach of the ordinary schools.


• Visual aids:
  The modern visual aids include picture slides, motion pictures etc. But these aids of teaching could not gain popularity and are no more in use. With the advent of technology portable aids like e-book / e-readers are mainly used for reading digital books. But however, due to its limited storage capacity and cost, it cannot totally replace the material books.


• Audio-visual aids:
  These are widely adopted and used in many educational institutions. There are separate audio-visual (AV) rooms or labs. The process of learning has become quite exciting for the students with the AV aids. Students move from their regular classroom and enjoy learning AV rooms. It develops team work among the students as they are required to work in teams for PBL. Within a short period of time these AV aids gained much popularity and have shown their dominance.
  
  1. Video disks: these teaching aids have replaced the visual aids like the picture slides and motion and have become much popular. These video disks are very effective aids in teaching science and geography subject. These aids are very easily available in the present days in the market at a reasonable price. Video disks have given rise to e-learning. These visual aids have even helped in on line learning as well and made the process of learning much easier.
  
  2. Computers / laptops: These are one the best and types of modern teaching aids that have gained much popularity in the recent past and is used extensively particularly by students, who find it very attractive and of course, it is much helpful for them in gaining knowledge. Particularly after the advent of the international network, people are much exposed to the knowledge due to the varied information that is available for them on the website. By the growth of technology children are showing much interest in computer-based learning like the power point presentations. And these have been in the increase with the availability of more and more educational software programs in the market.
  
  3. Powerpoint presentations: These are one of the most attracted teaching aid for the students as they not only create interest in the child but at the same time they themselves can be involved in creating one. Thus the powerpoint presentations enable the student's active role in the learning process and helps in improving their curiosity and their innovative / creative skills as well. With the availability of the latest easily downloadable software, student are showing much interest in the technology based learning. In such a project based learning teacher acts as a facilitator to the taught and this involves the active participation of the student.
  

Limitations of the modern teaching aids

• Modern teaching aids are not affordable and reachable to the students across the country particularly to the weaker section of the society. The use of these aids are limited to the students of a particular section.


• Most of the aids are electronic based and are hazardous to health due to the emission of electro-magnetic waves.


• Aids like power point presentations and laptops have a wide range of enhancements which might distract the students from the main topic.


• Most of the modern aids are sophisticated and cannot be incorporated in an ordinary Indian classroom due to various factors like environmental conditions, need of infrastructure and financial budget as well.


• Finally these e-gadgets are not eco-friendly and result in environmental pollution after long use.


• Most of the modern teaching aids are technology based. Teachers have to update their skills to use / handle these aids. Elderly teachers who cannot update their skills find it difficult to handle these aids.

Advantages of conventional aids in teaching

• The conventional aids that are extensively used classrooms are cheap, reachable / affordable to all sections of the society. These are easy to use.


• These teaching aids are much suitable for Indian climate and are apt for the common Indian classroom. These are eco-friendly too.


• These are extremely safe to use and do not cause harm.


• Mainly in a classroom these aid do not distract the attention of the students. Rather draws attention of the child and makes them understand the concept.


• The aids can be easily handled and maintained by all the section of the people / teachers irrespective of their skills or training. Teachers don't find it difficult to handle these aids.