Question Discussion & Solution

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.

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.

Personality refers to the different aspects of a person's character such as his/her interest, behavior, cognition, etc. A detailed information about the individual’s ancestry is collected when the 'Case History' method is used to measure personality.

• Case history refers to a research approach to investigate and analyze an individual, group, community, or phenomenon to explore the causes of basic principles. t is a method of qualitative research.

Key Points

Case History Method:

• A case history is a deep, detailed, and intensive study of a social unit.
• It preserves wholeness of the units i.e. it is an approach that views any social unit as a whole. 
• It helps to collect detailed information about the unit of study and gives clues to new ideas and further research.
• As a tool of analysis, it helps to ascertain a number and variety of traits, qualities, and habits confined to a particular instance.
• The case history method shows the way to deepen our perception and sharpen insights to understand biographies.

• It is based on reality. Some of these studies have been conducted in the school environment, which has mostly centered on the behavioral problems of children.
• One thing we must remember about the case history is that it must provide valid and reliable results for the development of future research.

Hence, it could be concluded that detailed information about the individual’s ancestry is collected when the 'Case History' method is used to measure personality.

Additional Information

Mistakes and Errors:

• When a learner can’t master a topic, he/she is vulnerable to make errors. Errors are nothing but incorrectness made by a child during learning. 
• It also takes place due to the mismatch in previously assimilated and newly accommodated knowledge. 

Key Points

Children’s Errors and Mistakes:

• are a window into how they think and learn. 
• are a significant step in the teaching-learning process. 
• are necessary in the learning process to give insight into children's thinking.
• help the teacher to be aware of learners' learning styles, to cater to them according to their needs.
• are considered as a part of the teaching-learning process as it helps to understand the child.

Hence, we conclude that errors of learners often indicate how they learn.

Additional Information 

Teacher’s Approach on Learner’s Error:

• The teacher should assess the types of errors made by the learners.
• Teachers should emphasize more on correcting errors affecting a large percentage of their students.
• The teacher should look upon the errors as a feedback.
• Remedial teaching should be done to overcome the errors made by learners.

The Right to Education Act commonly known as RTE Act was enacted in August 2009 by the Indian government.

It is an act which aims to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the age of 6 to 14 years in India under the Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.

Objectives of RTE Act 2009:

• Appoint trained teachers for better educational outcomes.
• Improve school infrastructure(if needed) in every three years.
• Prohibit private tuition by teachers to equalize educational opportunities to all.
• Reserve 25% seats for children belonging to economically weaker sections in private schools.
• Not to deploy teachers in non-academic work except for census, population elections, and disaster relief duties.
• Establish primary and upper primary schools within the distance of 1km and 3kms respectively from the child's house.

Hence, it could be concluded that the Government of India enacted the Right of  Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act in the year 2009.