Mass Media

MASS MEDIA

      Mass media is an important means of making mathematics teaching and learning more effective and interesting. A teacher of mathematics needs to explore the full potential of these for more effective mathematics teaching. The use of mass media helps in breaking the monotony of the classroom teaching-learning process as most of the learning takes place through multi-sensory experiences like listening, seeing, touching, feeling and so on. However, unless used appropriately and with good planning, these aids can defeat the purpose for which they are being used.

           The term mass media stands for dissemination of information, ideas and entertainment by the use of communication media. The media include those which use modern means of communication such as radio, television, film, press, newspapers and advertising. In fact, they co- exist with the important traditional media such as folk dance, drama and puppetry.

  Mass Media and Education:

Education in its modern form, involving the instruction of pupils with in specially designated school premises, emerged with the spread of printed materials and higher levels of literacy. The rise of mass media and the rise of mass education are closely connected, because of the letters ability to read & write to participate in public sphere. Media are generally classified on the basis of their distribution channels.

                            

                                Print Media                                                       Electronic Media

                                Books                                                                  Radio

                                Newspapers                                                        Television

                                Magazines                                                           Films

                                Direct mail                                                          Tape & Disc Recordings

The planning and preparation of such aids require the teacher to:

Ø  Select the concept to be concretised.

Ø  Translate the ideas into a visual form.

Ø  Select the most appropriate medium of presentation.

Ø  Design the layout and choose effective colour combination.

Ø  Prepare the aid.

Ø  Evaluate its effectiveness for future revision.

         Mass media is those means of communication that reach and influence large numbers of people, especially newspapers, popular magazines, radio, and television. When matter is presented through radio and tape recorder, listening remains the only means of communication.

RADIO

           Radio has been playing a vital role in the field of education and Radio has established due credit in the field of education. Almost all the important centers of A.I.R. broadcast programmes on mathematics education. These programmes are either related to general aspects of mathematics education or regular classes on topics for high school and higher secondary school mathematics. The important discussions and speeches concerning principles and laws of mathematics, life history and contribution of mathematics, the application at mathematics in practical life are broad cast. Highly Experienced teachers, teacher educators, mathematicians and research persons take part in such programmes. The Radio as a means of communication takes their voices to the millions of students and teachers listening to their programmes.

       A teacher of mathematics can make the best use of such programmes by making himself and his students aware of the programmes and listening to such programmes. As for as possible, the teacher should try to integrate the radio programme with regular classroom instruction. The teacher can put up a list of progammes to be broadcast every week, on the classroom notice board so that the students keep track of the programmes. The students may be asked to take notes on the programmes and the teacher can follow it up with a discussion on the following day.

TAPE RECORDER:

                 Tape recorder also we can use for the programmes on mathematics education. This is also used in rural areas. If the lessons are not understood for the students at a time, they record these programmes and they can listen any time. If the students miss the radio lesson for different timings they will able to listen in tape recorder by recording such programme.

TELEVISION

            Television has the greater advantages as it not only conveys the messages through sound, but also depicts the content with relevant pictures, figures and scenes. The teacher can supplement his regular teaching by making use of the relevant educational programmes telecast by Doordarshan in English and in regional languages. The list of programmes are published in advance in leading newspapers and the teacher can make use of this list as a guide to select the programmes should be based on the students’ level of achievement and capacity to understand before the students view the programmes, they should be properly motivated, should be told what to look for, how to view the programme and how to pick up the key points. After viewing the programme the teacher can discuss with the students about the important points and ask questions for clarification and summarisaion. Though this is an interesting aid for teaching, the major disadvantage is that if the students are not able to follow any part of the programme, there is no way of replying. It for viewing it once again or interacting with the expert for clarification. This can be overcome if the teacher records the programmeand views it along with the students, interacting and clarifying s and when it is required.

             In television the programmes on mathematical speeches, Mathematics classes for competitive exam, History of mathematics and pictures about mathematicians, and also it has shown the places about related to mathematics.

             Eg: Bank, Post-office, share market etc.

         The teacher of mathematics should try to take advantage of such learning opportunities by making himself and his students fully conversant with such programmes

NEWS PAPER

          Newspaper is an economical, effective and exciting teaching aid. It provides supplemental, supportive teaching materials. Using the newspaper bridges the gap between classroom learning and real-world living, helps foster global awareness and understanding of local issues, creates informed citizens, offers examples of conflict and resolution and fosters reading thinking and writing skills. In addition, using newspapers in class can encourage positive students’ attitudes toward reading, improve mathematics skills, motivate students to talk with their peers and parents about what they read and help students learn how to solve real-life problems.

Newspapers may be used an effective aid for teaching and learning of mathematics. They help in correlating teaching of mathematics with day to day happenings of life. The statistics given in the newspaper in the form of weather charts, the prices of various commodities, budgets of stage and central government, interest rates of various private and government  agencies stock and shares etc. All provide good means for making the teaching of mathematics interesting useful and purposeful. The cutting of the newspapers may thus be employed to help the students in learning the practical application of mathematics in day to day life.