Child Development and Pedagogy for CTET examination

Paper I of CTET exam carries 150 multiple choice questions (MCQs). Following are the major contents, each having same weightage (20 %):

i.Child Development and Pedagogy

ii.Language I

iii.Language II

iv.Mathematics

v.Environmental Studies

CTET Exam pattern and syllabus

Child Development and Pedagogy: Child psychology is an important branch of psychology which focuses on the mind and behaviour of children from parental development through adolescence. Child psychology deals not only with the growth of children physically but also with their mental, emotional and social development as well. Today, psychologists recognize that child psychology is unique and complex, but many differ in terms of the unique perspective they take when approaching development. Development is a process of internal and external growth of a child and the emergence or differentiation of his capabilities. It could also be understood as the function of maturity and his interaction with the environment. There may be various aspects of development like physical, mental, emotional, language, ethical etc.

Topics to be covered for CTET exam on Child Development and Pedagogy are given below which carry 30 marks (30 MCQs):

(a)Child Development (Primary School Child): (15 questions)

•Concept of development and its relationship with learning

•Principles of the development of children

•Influence of Heredity & Environment

•Socialization processes: Social world & children (Teacher, Parents, Peers)

•Piaget, Kohlberg and Vygotsky: constructs and critical perspectives

•Concepts of child-centred and progressive education

•Critical perspective of the construct of Intelligence

•Multi-Dimensional Intelligence

•Language & Thought

•Gender as a social construct; gender roles, gender-bias and educational practice

•Individual differences among learners, understanding differences based on diversity of language, caste, gender, community, religion etc.

•Distinction between Assessment for learning and assessment of learning; School-Based Assessment, Continuous & Comprehensive Evaluation: perspective and practice         Formulating appropriate questions for assessing readiness levels of learners; for enhancing learning and critical thinking in the classroom and for assessing learner achievement.

(b)Concept of Inclusive education and understanding children with special needs (10 questions)

•Addressing learners from diverse backgrounds including disadvantaged and deprived.

•Addressing the needs of children with learning difficulties, ‘impairment’ etc.

•Addressing the Talented, Creative, Specially abled Learners

(c)Learning and Pedagogy (5 questions):

•How children think and learn; how and why children ‘fail’ to achieve success in school performance.

•Basic processes of teaching and learning; children’s strategies of; learning as a social activity; social context of learning.
•Child as a problem solver and a ‘scientific investigator’

•Alternative conceptions of learning in children, understanding children’s ‘errors’ as significant steps in the learning process.

•Cognition & Emotions

•Motivation and learning

•Factors contributing to learning– personal & environmental

Strategies on how to prepare ‘Child Development and Pedagogy’

•After going through the syllabus, collect some good books and prepare your notes. Short notes will help you in summarizing the topic.

•Attempt mock tests available online to boost your confidence.

•Revision of previous year question papers can help and give an idea as to what to expect in the exam.

•Learn thinker’s thoughts and principles thoroughly.

CTET February 2016: Quiz set 1