Traditionally education plays an important role in the life of every individual
and whole society. It is not a secret that nowadays classroom activities may
vary dramatically depending not only on the subject or a teacher, as it used
to be in the past, but what is more important on students. Obviously, the basic
goal of teaching is not simply to provide students with some information but
it is much more significant and may be defined as the teaching of students to
search information and produce knowledge independently in the course of their
life. However, it is a global goal which cannot be achieved without a profound
knowledge of all nuances of the teaching process and classrooms activities.
This is why it is very important to analyze classroom activities which basically
include three interdependent components input, processing and output. The latter
is obviously the target component. Consequently, it is necessary to find out
the extent to which it may be affected by input and processing and what other
factors influence output.
Speaking about classroom activities, it should be said that their high efficiency
and positive results may be achieved only on the basis of practical implementation
of theoretically supported knowledge concerning the process of education, psychology,
and even physiology. Traditionally, the aim of any theory concerning education
is to increase the efficiency of the learning process.
The contemporary education system applies educational theories are widely. At
the same time, it should be pointed out that basically all theories target at
three basic constituent elements of the educational system which are as follows:
input, processing and output. Unquestionably all these elements are extremely
important and closely interlinked. However, before analyzing their interrelation,
it is primarily necessary to briefly dwell upon each of them in order to properly
understand their role and significance for the educational system at large and
classroom activities.
First of all, inputs are traditionally referred to the ingredients of learning.
To put it in simple words, inputs are what teachers are trying to teach students,
learning materials and ways of teaching. At the same time, inputs may be also
defined as conditions of learning. For instance, it may be the educational level
achieved by students, their social and cultural background, or more trivial
ones such as atmosphere in the classroom, textbooks used in the classroom, etc.
it should be pointed out that theoretically the level of inputs is unlimited
but still, it is necessary to take into consideration such important factors
as the age of students, their level of development, psychological state, the
situation in the family and many others but it is obvious that when people have
no input to follow then there will be no outputs.
Unlike inputs, outputs may be defined as goals, or what students actually learning
for as well as it is students’ learning itself. In fact, in the hierarchy
of the educational system outputs occupy probably the top place though they
cannot be achieved without two other elements of the educational system, i.e.
inputs and processing.
As for the processing, it is not less, if not to say more important than inputs
and traditionally it is defined as the teaching of material to students. In
other words, it is the learning process in which learning material is delivered
and taught to students.
At the same item, there are different factors that affect educational process,
including inputs, processing, and, naturally, outputs. Among such factors, socio-economic
status of a child is extremely important and should be taken into consideration
as one of the most significant components of input. In fact, socio-economic
status, to a significant extent, defines the education of a child. What is meant
here is the fact that traditionally, low socio-economic status of a child affects
negatively his/her learning because often such children are simply deprived
of a possibility to receive a good education, or to continue their education
in colleges after finishing school. In this respect, it is worthy of note that
lower socio-economic status often leads to poor academic performance and this
trend is particularly strong among African-American students which in the vast
majority represent lower classes.
Furthermore, cultural background of students should be also taken into consideration.
Basically in a mono-cultural class the pacing would easier since the class mentality
would be quite homogeneous, while in a culturally diverse class, along with
certain psychological peculiarities of each student, it is also necessary to
pay a lot of attention to their culture and mentality.
In stark contrast, in culturally diverse classroom it is necessary to take into
consideration cultural peculiarities and mentality of each student representing
different ethnic or socio-cultural group.
In such a situation, classroom serves a stimulus and response factor to the
needs of every student. In this respect, it is worthy of note that the classroom
as a stimulus is a form of input, while the final goal of education, such as
getting a job after learning is a form of output. In such a way, the correlation
between input and output is obvious and it is realized by means of processing.
Practically, it means that it is possible to apply the concept of rational choice
here. For instance, it is possible to define some educative goal than choose
the most efficient way of realization of this goal in the process of education,
and finally achieve this goal as an output of learning.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that
there are different factors that affect efficiency of learning in the classroom.
In this respect, inputs, processing and outputs are of a paramount importance
and cannot exist separately. This is why the inputs and processing define outputs
along with such factors as socio-economic status of students and their cultural
background. In such a way, it is obvious that in order to achieve positive results
in education there should exist a strong link between inputs, processing and
outputs, while socio-economic and cultural differences should not play the defining
role in the learning process.
Bibliography:
1. Hofmeister, A. and M. Lubke. Research Into Practice: Implementing Effective
Teaching Strategies. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
2. Using the Let Me Learn Process: To Recognize and Support Diversity in Learning.
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