Question Discussion & Solution

Social science is the branch of science devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. 

Key PointsMain objectives of teaching social studies at the primary level are - 

• The teaching of social studies is aimed at helping learners to develop greater awareness of themselves to clarify and examine their values and to establish a sense of self-identity.
• The teaching of social studies helps promote learners' concern for the development of an understanding and acceptance of others in the society with different values and lifestyles.
• Social studies teaching helps provide learners with an understanding of past events and persons and their roles in shaping present day lives and a visualisation of future changes.
• Social studies teaching helps provide learners with a knowledge of human systems in areas of economics, government, and culture, and how they are part of this society.
• Social studies teaching helps provide learners the skills necessary to carry out an independent investigation of problems and to react critically to the solutions posed by others.
• Social studies teaching aims at providing learners with an awareness of possible situations and their possible roles in shaping the future.
• Social studies helps provide learners with an appreciation of people's efforts to improve human conditions through creative expression and problem-solving.
• Social studies teaching provides learners with an understanding of the decision-making processes involved in human interaction and with the skills necessary to become effective decision-makers. 

Therefore, from the above points, it is clear that to keep record of crimes in society is not an objective of teaching social studies at the primary level.

The generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) was earlier known by the name anxiety neurosis or anxiety states. The disorder is more commonly seen in primary care settings or in internal medicine clinics rather than in psychiatric practice.

• GAD is characterized by unrealistic and/ or excessive anxiety which is generalized and persistent, present all the time and is not restricted to certain situations or exposure to certain objects. The disorder has a prevalence of 2-5 per cent and is twice more common in females as compared with males. Onset is usually in the 20s, although persons of any age can be affected.
• Only one-third of patients who have GAD seek psychiatric help. Many go to the general practitioners, internists and cardiologists.
• Symptoms in GAD may sometimes occur in the background of chronic environmental stress. Many times, the illness runs a chronic and fluctuating course, but the response to treatment is good. Mild depressive symptoms are often an associated feature.

Hence, it is clear that GAD stands for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

An intellectual disability that is also known as mental retardation (M.R.) is the most common disability found among children with special needs. It is considered a substantial limitation in present functioning.

• It starts before the age of 18, the intellectual functioning level of a child becomes below average and that can be measured by the standardized tests used for measuring the intelligence quotient.

Key Points

• The mentally retarded are those whose normal intellectual growth is arrested before birth, during the birth process, or in the early years of development.
• They learn slowly and through imitating their peers or teachers. They have a short memory and forget things easily.
• They have problems in communication, social interaction, managing their daily tasks, speech disturbances. They show immaturity in different social situations.
• Mental retardation may vary in different individuals, ranging from mild to profound. They require special care and supervision for their welfare and for the development of their capacities.​

Hence, it could be concluded that the ability to generalize is not a learning characteristic of a mentally retarded person.

The Montessori method is propounded by ‘Maria Montessori’, an Italian physician and naturalist. This method lays emphasis on student's all-round development which includes personal, social, moral, emotional, and cognitive development of the child.

The Montessori system of teaching is focused on the child as it ensures student's all-round development by:

• making learning fun and burden-free by including self-directed activity, hands-on learning to reach full potential in all areas of life.
• providing many practical exercises in her school to enable the child to learn good habits of cleanliness and order.
• making students learn the lesson of the dignity of labour and self-reliability by attending to their needs themselves.
• introducing concepts such as ‘Learning through living’, ‘Sense training’, ‘individual teaching’.

Hence, it could be concluded that the Montessori system of teaching is focused on the child.

The goal of mathematics teaching at school is to build usable skills notably in the areas of numeracy (numbers, operations, measurements, decimals, and percentages). The overall goal is to teach the student how to think and reason mathematically as well as how to follow assumptions to their logical conclusions and deal with abstractions.

Key Points

•  Desirable teaching practices in mathematics-
  • Encouraging students for reasoning while solving problems- The teacher should create challenging and meaningful problems for the students to include hands-on activity in the class and determine that every student has actually learned the objective of the class.
  • Incorporate storytelling to make a connection to the real world. this method contributes to the mental development of children and also helps them to be comfortable in the classroom, story function in terms of a pedagogical and social sense.
  • Memorization should not be promoted- Memorization does not lead to a deeper understanding of the information and there is no scope for developing logical thinking and investigation.

Hence, we can conclude that the most desirable feature of mathematics teaching is to create and pose challenging and meaningful problems for the student.