Assignment Method

Lecture Notes on Methodology.

Unit IV. Assignment Method.

District Institute of Education and Training. Lawspet, Puducherry 605008.

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

The Assignment method is the most common method of teaching especially in teaching of
Science. It is a technique which can be usually used in teaching and learning process. It is an
instructional technique comprises the guided information, self learning, writing skills and report
preparation among the learners. The Assignment method is an important step in teaching and learning
process (Douglas).

Assignment
Objectives

Objectives of this Unit

(Assignment Method)

Steps in Assignment Method

By this method a student teacher has to acquire the

Features of a Good Assignment

following objectives:

Types of Assignments
-

Home assignments

School Assignments

Fundamental Elements of Assignments

To Know the Aims & Objectives of Assignments

To acquire the research attitude
To acquire attitude of self learning
To retrieve the information from various resources
To understand the steps / stages of assignment

Role of Teacher
Advantages
Limitations
Practice oriented Assignment An example.
Text book based Assignment An example
Progress Sheet.

method
To List out the features of Assignment method
To explain the types of Assignments
To know the role and functions of teacher
To list out the merits of assignment method.
To list out the limitations of assignment method

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

Objectives of Assignment Method:

Bates defined that the Assignment given in the lesson concerned to the student must train
them in self learning and to acquire the presentation skills of the learners. The assignment method
inculcates the learning experiences and information retrieval and report writing skills. The following
objectives can be derived from the Assignment method.
The diverse and multiple learning experiences must be coordinated with a common method is
an important objective in Teaching of Science. The assignment method can integrate and coordinate
the different learning experiences of a learner from different approaches.

It provides good training for information seeking and retrieval behaviour.

It inculcates the self learning attitude among the students.

It provides information analysis and research attitude to the learners.

It develops the learning experiences from various sources.
Steps / Stages in Assignment
In order to achieve the desired objectives from the Assignments, the teacher should mind the
following steps / stages before assigning the work to the students.
The assignment must be Lesson concerned and related with the text books and
curriculum.
The topic / unit of the assignment must be explained with the availability of resources.
The core of the subject or unit must be clarified.
The hard and difficult portions of the assignment need to be explained well.
The topics / units irrelevant to the assignments must be defined very well.
The questions and answers for the assignment provided to the learners must
comprise the following:
The questions must investigate the learners /
students attitude.
The questions need to express whether the
students have gone through the entire questions
and assignment instructions.
The answers must be simple and smaller in
nature.
The

questions

must

allocate

space

for

diagrammatic illustrations by the students

The questions can provide experimental work
and tools for the students.
The references and bibliography must be
annexed by the students.

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

Qualities / Features of a Good Assignment:

The significance of the Assignment has not been felt by the students because they were given
by the individual without having proper understanding of the objectives of assignment method.(Tram)
Assignments given with ambiguous instruction and lesser time to complete the task are also results in
to sub-standard work by the students.

So that the teachers should identify the selected units / topics as the assignment work. A good
assignment has the following best features and provides a good learning experience.
Assignment must be relevant to the subject taught to the student.
This should reflect the affinities with the subject contents in the text book concerned.
Assignment must be simple and enable the students to complete it within the stipulated time.
Assignment must avoid ambiguous, complex information and instructional structure.
Objectives of the assignments must be clear and definite.
Assignment must be given with other methods of teaching enable the good learning
experiences.
Assignment should be given ensuring the level of the students age, attitude, skills and
availability of resources for the topic / unit.
Assignment must develop the creativity and capable of individual learning by doing.
Assignments given to the students may challenge their thinking and analysis power.
The group assignments may encourage the coordinated learning among the students.
The difficult task can be handled by fast learners and normal and easier task can be shared by
slow learners facilitates students to complete and achieve the objectives of the group assignment.
Generally the selection of the topics / units for the Group assignment must be done by the group of
students themselves.
Types of Assignments:
Generally, the assignments are classified in to two types:
viz. Home assignments and School Assignments
Home assignments:
The assignments given by the teacher is completed by the students in their home with the
help of reference books and instructions / information provided by the teacher. The Completed
assignments were evaluated by the teacher.
School
School assignments:

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

Prior to the experiments to be done or any difficult tasks, the teacher

interrogates some questions regarding the experiment or tasks. The students
have to find the answer with the help of text books and library books and
report it in written form. The teacher observes the information collected by
the students for the assignments. If the information collected is relevant and
sufficient, the students will be allowed to proceed further towards the
experiment or tasks. Other wise they are again instructed with further information and clarification to
resubmit the assignments. Such assignments are termed and known as School assignments.
Busing has classified the school assignments in to nine types under the following headings.
 1. Page or Paragraph Assignment: This assignment deal with the frequently used topic / unit
in Text books. Usually assignment confines with a page or few paragraphs only. It is the
method of instant answering or reporting in learning activities.
 2. Chapter Assignment: This is somewhat broader than the page or paragraph assignment.
Its scope confines with a chapter in the text book or a specific topic / unit to be
described in the Text books. Generally this assignment based on the contents of the
chapter of a lesson hence it is called as chapter assignment.
 3. Topical Assignment: Such assignments are based on a chapter or more or a topic
interrelated with the text book units. There may be ample opportunities the topical
assignments may cross the boundaries of text books and its chapters. This assignment
will be helpful in teaching and learning, the every day problems can be correlated with
science teaching and learning by the students.

 4. Problem Assignment: In order to solve a problem through scientific method this type of
assignments were given to the students. The problem solving is its primary objective.
The students are trained to learn the problem solving process through this assignment
method. This type of assignment is considered as exclusive one.
 5. Experience Assignment: This is a traditional assignment method. This type of assignment
is usually used in mathematical lessons. Also this assignments will be helpful in problem
solving and for other subjects too. This assignment is given along with other
assignments.

 6. Individual or Group report Assignment: This assignment has given to bring out the
actual capabilities of a student or a group of students. It helps to promote the

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

cooperative learning and information seeking behaviour among the students. It is

considered as one of the special methods to develop and promote the individuals
learning experiences.
 7. Unit Assignment: This assignment confines with a particular unit of the text book. It helps
to avoid the ambiguous and repetitive information from the units of Group discussion.
The central idea / core theme of the text can be supported by this unit assignment.
Duplicate and unauthentic ideas and information are filtered in this unit assignment.
 8. Experiment Assignment: This assignment has the best features from the problem
assignment and project method. Basically this assignment evolved from the laboratory
experiments and its reports. But this assignment could not be used as a representative
for testing hypothesis. This is a best tool for the learning and teaching process.
 9. Practice Assignment: This type of assignment is usually given in mathematics. This is
given to the students to reinforce their memory skills and retention of the concepts. The
repeated exercises can be given through this assignment. Memorizing poems, tables,
theorem etc., can be done through this method.

Fundamental Elements of Assignments:

i.

Assignments must be clear and well defined.

ii.

It should be precise as well as having sufficient information enable to complete the task by all
students.

iii.

The Teacher should clear the obstacle of the assignment proposed.

iv.

Newer topics for the assignments must be proposed with the earlier learning experiences.

v.

Students must have a proper understanding about the assignments.

vi.

Students need to understand the importance of assignments.

vii.

Assignments proposed must be interesting enable to complete within the stipulated time by
the students.

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

viii.

Assignments must balance the skills and interests of the students as well as with their age and
attitude.

ix.

Assignment must enhance the interest in learning experiences of the students.

x.

Appropriateness in assignment is accepted. There should not be credits or debits for best and
worst assignments respectively.

xi.

Assignments must direct the students towards the appropriate learning methods for the lesson
in the text books.

xii.

Assignments proposed must consider the individual differences of the students and their time
management skills.

xiii.

Library and laboratory facilities are mandatory for completion of assignments.

Teachers Role in assignment method:

method:
In order to achieve the effective learning experience among the students through the
Assignment method teacher has his / her own important role and functions in this method. The
following role and functions are considered mandatory for every teacher when executing the
assignment method.

 In teaching of Science subject the lesson is divided into easier and appropriate parts that should
be enable to pursue as assignment topics.
 The assignments must be interrelated and develop from one to another gives good learning
experiences.
 Teacher must have some targets in the learning experiences that to be acquired by the students
from the assignments.
 Before giving the assignment works to the students progress sheet should have been prepared
by the teacher.
 Teacher should have the complete bibliography and references for the subject he assigned for
the assignments to the students.

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

 The reference and required information must be given with guidelines to the students when they
opt for assistance in their assignment as well as in other academic works.
 The teacher must have the list of the assignments and its feed back with the problem solving
guidelines to reduce the gaps in learning process among the students.
 Active sheets must be prepared and kept under his custody for the experiments and laboratory
work.
The planned and programmed assignment method yields a good learning experience and
better results also facilitate the further follow up academic activities such as Laboratory work,
experiments and projects. The planned and well defined assignments found simple and interesting to
the students and enable them to complete the work effectively within a stipulated time.
Advantages / Merits of assignment method:
 Provides opportunity in self learning for the students
 Better learning experiences will be gained when combined with other science teaching
methods.
 Assignment provides sufficient flexibility in learning pace of the students. The slow learners
too adapt with this method.
 Teachers interruption is very much reduced and the students active participation is
encouraged.
 Teacher acts as a role of guide only.
 The students received a better training in the learning by doing method in this method.
 The information seeking and retrieval behaviour is developed among the students.
 It gives better understanding in scientific method and projects.

 It can provide space for the individuals learning attitude and their speed in learning process.
 This provides better feed back and gives exact solution for the problems faced by the student
in the learning process.
 The progress sheet shows each and every student achievement and records his strength and
weakness of the students learning activities.
 The learning by doing aspect in this assignment method promotes the self confidence and self
respect of each and every student engaged in assignment work.
 Additional bibliographic information and references provide a good in depth knowledge among
the students in the subject they work.
 Teacher himself improves his awareness about the students achievements.
 The student has his own responsibility in learning process.
 The experimental works can be done with ease and simple way.

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

 The difficult experiments are demonstrated by the teacher so that there is no risk.
 Individualized instruction and attention is possible in this method.
Limitations
There are some demerits and limitations in this assignment method for both teachers and students.
For the Teachers:
It is time consuming and burden process.
Teacher has to collect the information from various sources before assigning the work to the
students.
Work burden extends in holidays too. There will be no encouragement for his work.
There are no source books and guide books are available in the market. Teacher has to
prepare the same at his own risk of time and money.
There are divergent group of students in a class, it poses problems for teacher assigning a
unique or uniform topic for assignment.
The success of the assignment method largely depends on library and laboratory facilities
provided for the teacher as well as students.
The teacher has to examine the copy work and eliminate it.
The slow learners need much more attention from the teacher. Again it gives more burden for
the teacher.
For the Students:
Time consuming. Need to spend more time in seeking information and its retrieval.
The time limit given threatens the students which makes the substandard work.
The slow learners stay behind. They tend to copy others works.
It is found hard for the students having little scientific attitude.
The report writing is little bit costly.
In general
It is not fit for all topics in science.
The teacher student ration must be less in number.
Need better orientation both for teacher and students.
Careful analysis and correction is necessary otherwise entire works go waste.
~~ ~~

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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Assignment Method

Table 1.
Progress Sheet.
Class:

Lesson:

Section:

Unit:
Assignment No.1.

Cycle
No.

Name

Assigned
Date

Assignment
date

Evaluation

Assignment No.2.
Assigned
Date

Assignment
date

Evaluation

1
2
3

Reference:
(Teaching of Science, First Year Source Book (D.T.Ed.) Tamil Nadu Textbook Society, Chennai-600006. p47-60.).

From:

T. Madhavan. Lecturer,DIET, Lawspet, Puducherry.

Lecture notes on Teaching of Science (Part: Methodology)., Source Book., D.T.Ed., First Year.

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