How to encourage passive pupils to actively take part in the class?

Frederick anak Sut

List of Contents

Acknowledgement

Abstract

The effectiveness of teaching method in teacher can be shown through the

response of pupils in the class and how do they behave in the class. The teacher

always enters the class with enthusiasm but de-motivated when the pupils

especially passive learners did not give enough effort to learn and make the

lesson more meaningful. The study on how to encourage the passive pupils to

actively take part in class will be carried out in the selected school for science

classes. The analysis of the study will be assessed by gathering data from

various methods which are using questionnaires forms, observation from the

peer, pupils and senior teachers’ interview session to determine the problem.

Keywords: passive learner, participate, class activity, questionnaires

Research Background

The study is carried out in SK Abang Abdul Rahman, Saratok during Science

classes. This study will involve two classes which are Year 4B and also Year 5B.

Year 4B has 49 pupils in the class and Year 5B has 43 pupils. This research will

focus on some passive pupils in the classes. These passive pupils are very

difficult to take part in class because of the attitude. They prefer sit among

themselves and seems to be not interested in any lesson that been taught. Most

of the time, a passive student does not even know they are passive. They usually

sit toward the back of the room, talk with their friends when they should be doing

work, and participate in class only when there is no other. There are some

factors pupils become passive in the class:

1. Teaching and learning process is not interesting

2. The lesson seems to be too difficult

3. Shyness and nervousness to take part in the class

4. Peer interaction problem

5. Psychology problem

Problem Statement

When the first time I enter these two classes, I found that the classes are active

and interesting to teach. However, there are some groups of pupils that are

looked quite passive and very quiet in the class. They do not participate actively

when the lesson is been conducted. When the class activity is been conducted,

they do not give full commitment. This had become a problem for me because it

disturbs my focus and also my teaching process. In the classroom one is

supposed to be active. The silent and shy students are often perceived as being

less interested, motivated and participatory. Silent pupils have problems

establishing a closer relationship to the teacher which again makes the teacher

adapt situations of evaluation to the pupil. For shy pupils’ performance for the

class or activity in the groups are difficult. The problem for the socially passive

pupils is that they are not able to show what they know. Therefore, this research

is been carried out to encourage the passive pupils to actively take part in the

class. A number of methods and approaches will be taken to encourage these

passive pupils in the class. At the end of this study, we will see how does these

passive pupils changing and become more active in every class activity that been

conducted.

Rationale of study

The rationale of the study is how does the teaching technique of the teacher can

influent the involvement of the pupils in the class. It is about the best way to

attract the attention from the passive pupils to actively involve in the class

activity. The passive pupils should be encouraged to take part in the class so that

they are not leaving far back from the others. The opportunity of learning should

be fair and should be given to all type of pupils whether they are active or

passive pupils.

Introduction

There are many ways to find out if the pupils are active or passive. Passive

students tend to take more time, on tests, sometimes not even finishing. Are you

able to get their attention while they are doing an activity? Passive students will

be focused on something other than the teacher, making it hard for the teachers

to get their attention. They usually sit toward the back of the room, talk with their

friends when they should be doing work, and participate in class only when there

is no other choice. As a teacher, it is a big responsibility for us to identify pupils’

behaviour. A teacher must be concern and able to know whether the pupils are in

a good mood to study or not. Managing behaviour in the classroom also would

entail the teacher looking at discipline from two directions which are promoting

desirable or good behaviour and handling misbehavior when it occurs. Therefore

in this study, a few approaches will be used so that I can able to encourage the

involvement of passive pupils in my lesson. I do not want them to feel isolated in

the class. I want them to actively take part in the class activity.

Methodology

To carry out this study, I used five different methods. Each method has it own

strength and effectiveness in order to encourage the passive pupils to actively

take part in the class. A few aspects that I am looking for during this study are:

Pupils pay attention attentively in the class

Pupils show their expression when teacher asks questions

Two-ways communication between teacher and students

All pupils actively involve in class activities

Pupils can do their exercises without guidance

Methodology 1: Use of various teaching aids

Teaching aids are very important in delivering message and attract pupils’

concentration. Pupils will learn better with attractive teaching aids. Thus, we are

looking for an alternative to the previous teaching aids to attract pupils’ attention.

The use of various teaching aids will help a lot to attract especially the passive

pupils in the class. Some examples of teaching aids that been used during my

class are mahjong paper, mounting board, LCD and power point slide, label card,

Styrofoam and the live specimens such as the bougainvillea tree, earthworm,

seeds, etc. For each class, I used different teaching aids based on the topic of

the day. For example, for the topic “Plants Reproduce”, I show some videos on

how plants reproduce. Besides, I brought some live specimens such as seeds,

Begonia leaves, fern leaves and bougainvillea tree into the class. From what I

can see, the responses from the pupils are very impressive especially among the

passive pupils. I can see the positive response from them. When I ask some

questions, they show their expression and this is a good sign for my study. This

had approve that the use of various teaching aids can attract all pupils include

the passive pupils to actively take part in the teaching and learning process.

Methodology 2: Questioning techniques

Questioning techniques are very important in each teaching and learning

process. In order to know whether the pupils understand or not the topic of the

day, teacher must ask questions. Besides, questioning method can help to

strengthen the understanding among pupils. For the first two classes, I faced

some problems where only the same pupils answering my questions. Some

pupils sat down quietly and looked blur when I asked questions. From this, I

know that this group of pupils is from the passive pupils. I looked for ideas on

how to get them involve during my lesson. Therefore, I gave my attention more to

these groups of pupils by asking them a few questions. If they do not understand

the questions, I simplify the questions.

Example of question:

How does sugarcane reproduce?

If the pupils do not give the answer, I simplify the question:

Does sugarcane reproduce through seeds or stem cuttings?

This questioning technique had helped me a lot in order to encourage the

passive pupils to take part in my lesson.

Methodology 3: Various class activities

Pupils can get bored easily if the same class activity is been conducted every

day in the class. Therefore, a teacher must be creative in order to make the class

interesting and informative. From my research, at first I did the class activity,

majority the boys were actively take part in it. However, the major problem is the

girls group. They were looked very quiet and not interested in the class activity.

Therefore, for the next lesson, I conducted another class activity. I asked them to

work in groups and doing the classification chart. From what I can see, all pupils

were actively taking part. They enjoy doing the classifying activity in groups. For

this activity, I prepared a mounting board for each group and each group was

also given glue and some pictures to be classified into their group. Besides, I

conducted class outside the classroom. For the topic “Plants Respond to Stimuli”,

I brought the pupils to walk around the school compound and looking at the trees

at the school compound. This activity is seemed to be very interesting and able

to attract all pupils include the passive pupils. I asked them to do their own

findings on what happen to the shoot growth, the root growth and also the

Mimosa plant when it had been touched. This method is very effective to train the

Science Process Skills among pupils. From what I can see, various class

activities had encouraged the passive pupils to take part in the lesson.

Methodology 4: Giving rewards and encouragement

Most pupils like to receive rewards or encouragement. The rewards are

not necessary the gift or things but it can be in other form such as the praise,

hand-clapping and etc. Positive reinforcers help students learn behaviors

necessary to be successful academically and socially. For example, a student's

behavior goal may be to increase the amount of time he stays on-task in class.

Positive reinforcers would be used as a reward for improving over a period of

time. Positive reinforcers include any actions, consequences, or rewards that are

provided to a student and cause an increase in desired behavior. They may

include rewards and privileges that students like and enjoy. For example, a

student may earn physical rewards such as school supplies, healthy snacks, or

choice of free-time activities. Many teachers attempt to use praise as a form of

positive reinforcement in order to motivate students to achieve and behave in

positive ways. Research does indicate that there are effective ways to praise

students. The terms "effective praise" and "encouragement" are often used by

researchers and other professionals to describe the same approach. In this

paper, we will refer to both as "encouragement."

For my study, I need to carry out a research on the effectiveness of praise

or rewards in encouraging the involvement of passive pupils in the class. For

each class activity, the best group will be given some prizes as encouragement.

This method is also effective because all pupils are attracted to the rewards and

therefore, they involve actively in every class activity. When I ask questions

especially to the passive pupils, I always give praise to them. For example, “Very

good answer”, “well done” etc. This had give them motivation to answer the next

questions and lastly they are not afraid anymore to answer any questions from

the teacher.

Methodology 5: Peer study

Year 4B has 49 pupils and Year 5B has 43 pupils. I had arranged the seat of the

pupils where I asked one passive pupils to sit with one active pupil. This is what

we call the peer study. From what I can see, this method had helped the passive

pupils to gain confidence in communication skills. This is because their new peer

which is the active pupils had helped them to build the confidence among them.

At last, the passive pupils are involving actively in the class activity. When there

is work they do not understand, they discuss with their new peer. Therefore, this

method is very effective. I should not let the passive pupils to sit among them.

They must be given opportunity to enjoy the lesson same as the other pupils.

Data Analysis

0

5

10

15

20

25

No of pupils

Boys Girls

Gender

Passive Pupils in Year 4B

0

5

10

15

20

No of pupils

Boys Girls

Gender

Passive Pupils in Year 5B

From the results and analysis that have been carried out, it was shown that the

girls were the passive pupils than the boys in both 4B and 5B classes. Most of

times, the boys in the class participate actively when it comes to question and

answer session, presentation and group work rather than the girls. As for the

girls, they would be passive pupils if they did not understand what I taught them

and try to keep quiet as they could not answer the questions. Unlike the boys, the

girls did not have the strength and confidence to try and to participate in the class

activity for most of the time. From the interview and observation, I found out that

in order to get the passive pupils to become active in the class are by giving

more attention to them especially in guidance during doing the exercises or

completing the tasks given. As those passive pupils like the attractive interesting

activity that I always carried out, more compliments and attention will be given to

them so they will feel excited and keen to learn in the class.

Class Class involvement (%)1st-3rd week 3rd-6th week 6th-9th week 9th-12th week

4B 42% 70% 87% 98%5B 47% 73% 85% 100%Table 1: Class involvement (%) for Year 4B and 5B classes for the 1st till 12th week of practicum.

From the table above, the class involvement for each class is increasing till the

end week of practicum. This means, more and more passive pupils are actively

taking part in the class activity till the end week of practicum. The increasing

number of class involvement in the class shows that the methods that been used

in this study is effective and successfully to encourage the passive pupils to take

part in the any class activities.

Reflection

The strength that I could find out from the research which had been

carried out for the past few weeks during the practicum was that I had figured out

which of my pupils were passive and active in class. The girls in the class, which

respectively to be passive (also can be known as inactive pupils) like to do self

assessment activities in class that involved simulation, presentation, question

and answer sessions that required them to come forward and write or paste the

correct answers on board. Apart form that, I also can enhance the attention of my

boys and get them to get along with the girls especially when it involved them to

work in group so they could collaborate with each other, cooperate to the tasks or

carried out the experiments given as all the pupils would involve and no one

would be left out.

As for the weaknesses, I confessed I even did not realize that I pay more

attention to the boys rather than the girls. It is maybe because of the factor that I

concentrate on the boys as I am afraid they would make noise and disturbing the

class as they were naughtier than the girls. It is because the boys groups are

more active than the girls. As I turned out wrong, I tried to adjust myself a bit to

be balanced in communicating with both boys and girls in the group. I also

realized that I did not give enough guidance and assistance for them in doing the

exercises as I assumed they could do it well like they did during the class activity.

I realized that the passive pupils need more attention from me. Therefore, I give

more attention to them during the class activities. This is because I want to

encourage them to actively take part in the class.

Conclusion

As conclusion, my study had successfully encouraged the passive pupils to

actively take part in the class. There are 5 methods that been used during this

study. The most effective method is “Giving the Rewards or Encouragement”.

Most of the pupils like the rewards and praise. They make it as their motivator to

be active in the class.

References:

Bruner, J.S. 2006. In Search of Pedagogy Volume I. Routledge (Taylor &

Francis) Group. New York

Hanson, D. & Herrington, M. 1976. From College to Classroom: The

Probationary Year. Routledge &Keegan Paul Ltd. London.

Holliday, A. 2007. Doing and Writing Qualitative Research. 2nd Edition. SAGE

Publications. London.

Thomas, J.B. 2002. Creative in the classroom & Life : A nurturing Approach.

Penerbit Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idiris. Tanjung Malim, Perak.

Questionnaire to pupils

1. Gender Male Female

2. Do you like to come to school? Yes No

3. Which of the following objects will attract you most?

Picture

Sound

Video

Text book

4. Do you like to do an experiment?

Yes

No

5. Do you like the science class?

Yes

No

6. Do you find the class interesting?

Yes

No

7. Do you understand the lesson?

Yes

No

8. How you want the class conducted?

Inside the classroom

Outside the classroom

9. Do you like group activity?

Yes

No

10. Are you excited waiting for the next class?

Yes

No