CUS3701 Assignment 2 Memo

CUS3701 Assignment 2 Memo Everyday knowledge (also known as general knowledge)  Acquired randomly from conversations overheard, from the TV or radio, from watching parents, from punishment or praise. The structure is unsystematic, it is picked up in bits and pieces. It is communicated orally and can be difficult to remember and repeat. It is based on opinion, it is personal and local. The type of everyday knowledge that is acquired depends on family and community context and culture. It is practical and concrete, it belongs to and talks about a particular context and it requires generalising and thinking conceptually. (Booyse & Du Plessis, 2020) Examples:  The cost of a bus ticket  The result of a sports event  Characteristics of family members  News about celebrities and pop culture  Interpersonal skills Abstract-structured knowledge  Acquired in a structured way such as schooling extends everyday experience. The structure is systematic. It is grouped into particular subject disciplines like Mathematics, Science and Geography, which develop their own language. It is written, which gives it more continuity over time. It is taught systematically, with simpler concepts or tasks coming first and more complex concepts or tasks building on them later. Based on evidence, it comes from a long tradition of research and debate about what counts as important knowledge. School knowledge depends on a national curriculum that is the same for all children. It is networked, i.e. it fits into a web of concepts and it requires learning language (discourse) that is specific to different subject. (Booyse & Du Plessis, 2020) Examples:  Mathematical skills  Scientific skills  Literacy skills  Geographic skills  Deductive skills Question 2  Use contextualised action words. Learners should understand what is expected of them. So, when teachers set a task, it should be in writing and it should be clear how the task will be assessed. The best way of doing this is to put the main assessment criteria and indicators into the instructions for the task.  Use clear and accessible language Most South African learners are assessed in a language that is not their mother tongue. When learners’ main language is not English, it is very important to phrase assessment tasks clearly and in language that is easy to understand. Writing questions in complicated English is unfair and discriminates against second-language speakers. Learners might well know the answer, but if they don’t understand the question, they don’t have a chance to demonstrate their knowledge  Keep sentences short and the vocabulary and terminology suitable to the level of the learners.  Use active rather than passive voice and avoid words with many syllables.  Encourage learners to answer in ways with which they feel most comfortable. For example, let learners use words in languages other than English (code-switch) if that is how they can best express an idea, or allow several different ways of answering, such as giving a definition by using words or a labelled diagram.  Use comprehensive instructions. It is of utmost importance to give clear instructions of what is required / expected in a task. Learners would not be able to complete a task successfully if they do not understand the question or the instructions  Use clear language according to the level / grade of the learner.  Use action words to describe what activities should be part of performing the task.  Link instructions to the set outcomes and the assessment criteria in order to make sure that what is expected is what is assessed.  Re-read tasks after setting them to make sure that no steps are left out.(Booyse & Du Plessis, 2020) Question 3 As an interpreter of the curriculum and a developer of learning programmes, it is insufficient for the educator to give a narrow definition of the concept “curriculum. There are many different ways of understanding “curriculum” these different understandings are related to each other in some ways. “Curriculum” (both as prescription and in practice) is not neutral but carries values and is a political issue. (Booyse & Du Plessis, 2020) Curriculum has been used and applied with different meaning attached to it since the beginning of the field. The word “curriculum” from its Latin origins means “to run a court”. There are many conceptions and definitions of the curriculum: as content as learner experiences as behavioural objectives as a plan for instruction and as a non-technical approach. (Lurenburg, 2011:1)