TEACHING STRATEGIES: CHARACTERISTICS, WHAT THEY ARE FOR, EXAMPLES - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The teaching strategies are actions, tools and resources used by a teacher or decent to increase the likelihood that students achieve the learning objectives and internalize new knowledge that is intended to acquire.

In a strict sense, a teaching element can only be considered a didactic strategy when it is a procedure that is organized, formally structured, and applied to obtain a defined goal according to clear and concrete criteria. However, in practice we can find didactic strategies of very different natures.

The teaching strategies used in a teaching process largely determine its effectiveness. For this reason, teachers have to understand perfectly what results they want to achieve and the point from which their students start, and select the tools that best suit the specific situation.

Didactic strategies have led to a revolution in teaching, since traditionally a model was followed in which the teacher was limited to giving master classes without taking into account the starting point of the students or their needs. In this article we will see exactly what they are and how they work.

Characteristics of the didactic strategies

- Goal-based

Possibly the most important characteristic of teaching strategies is that they are aimed at helping students achieve specific learning goals. Its basic use is to help students improve the results of their time at school, and for this they adapt to the needs of each moment.

In traditional educational contexts, teachers always used the same tools to convey information regardless of the nature of the information. On the contrary, each teaching strategy is designed to be used in a specific context, so they are much more effective when teaching.

- They have very different natures

Students may have very different learning needs depending on factors such as the context in which they find themselves, their educational level, their age, or the subject they are trying to understand. Therefore, an effective didactic strategy has to be adapted to the specific situation in which it is to be applied.

This implies that in practice we can find didactic strategies with very different natures. For example, it is impossible to use the same methods to teach syntax as to get a person to understand the principles of organic chemistry.

- They promote the active role of the student

One of the characteristics of traditional learning is that the student plays a passive role when it comes to acquiring knowledge. In regular teaching, teachers are in charge of transmitting the content directly, without listening to the students' feedback at any time and without taking their needs into account.

Instead, most teaching strategies are based on the idea that each student learns better in a different way. Due to this, most promote the individuality and performance of each of the students, in such a way that they take a much more independent role than with other educational methods.

What are didactic strategies for?

Didactic strategies can be very beneficial in practically all educational contexts that exist as long as they are used correctly. When a teacher is able to carry out adequate planning, create concrete and correct objectives and find the most useful tool for each moment, the learning experience improves greatly.

On the one hand, as we have seen, didactic strategies are useful when it comes to involving students in their own knowledge acquisition process. This is because they promote their individuality, in addition to creating more enjoyable learning situations and in which students are more aware of what they are internalizing.

In addition, this also implies that there is greater collaboration between students and teachers when appropriate teaching tools are used. This factor makes the work of teachers easier, who can focus more easily on the specific needs of each student.

On the other hand, didactic strategies also make it much more likely that students will achieve the educational objectives that were proposed at the beginning of the process. This is true even in the case of students with special needs or with more difficulties when it comes to new learning.

Finally, students with whom appropriate teaching strategies are applied tend to become more responsible and take more responsibility for their own learning process, which further improves their results.

Examples of teaching strategies

1- Problem-based learning

This didactic strategy is based on the fact that students have to be able to solve a problem posed by the teacher. To do this, they must carry out a process of learning, reflection, research and exploration that helps them acquire the new knowledge they need in a much more direct and simple way than in a traditional teaching context.

2- Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning is a didactic strategy that seeks to exploit the power of teamwork, in such a way that students have to achieve a common goal and support each other in the process.

In this way, each student contributes their own skills and can use those of the others to go further than they would separately.

3- Project-based learning

Project-based learning is similar to the first didactic strategy we have seen, with the difference that in this case it is the students themselves who choose what challenge they want to face and how they are going to do it.

Thus, when using this didactic strategy, students have to choose the topic on which they are going to work, form their own teams, carry out independent research and reach their own conclusions. This encourages both their interest in the subject and learning, responsibility and teamwork.

4- Self-learning

One of the most individualized didactic strategies is that of self-management or self-learning. It encourages the student to take the initiative and choose those topics on which he wants to work, while the teacher exercises a more guiding role and helps him in the moments when he gets stuck or does not know a tool he needs to advance.

5- Teaching by discovery

With this technique, students gradually acquire new knowledge as they explore the world through the materials provided. This teaching strategy helps students think for themselves, increase their creativity, and gain greater confidence in what they can do.

6- Reading

Reading-based strategies are essential to capture reading comprehension of the text. Likewise, it favors other abilities and skills in students and in those who are readers, in general.

Reading is a procedure where various cognitive functions of the person come into play. Comprehension, through listening and reading, and writing and speaking production.

Benefit for the student

The possibility of introducing didactic strategies will have a positive impact on the school environment, on the use of students' books, fostering good relations between the students themselves and with their families.

As for the student, the benefits it entails are:

• He takes responsibility for his actions and tasks, as he is building his learning.
• They will develop their autonomy, since the teacher will be a mere guide who will provide the instructions to be carried out.
• You will play an active role in their learning, learning while understanding, forgetting rote.

What role should the teacher / teacher show?

The teacher must:

• Develop the role of "facilitator".
• He will be the one who guides the student, leaving aside his role as a mere evaluator.
• He will show complex situations that the students will have to solve and he will be the support to obtain the expected results. Showing them the possibility of focusing this learning in their daily life.
• Have the student contrast what they have learned in relation to previous knowledge.
• Encourage students through:
  • Enlightening instructions.
  • Language according to the age and situation of the students.
  • Establish the goal as a priority objective in each action.
  • Involve all members so that they recognize what is being learned.

References

1. "Didactic strategy" in: Ecured. Retrieved on: April 15, 2020 from Ecured: ecured.cu.
2. "What are didactic strategies?" in: UNED. Retrieved on: April 15, 2020 from UNED: uned.ac.cr.
3. "Didactic strategies: definition, characteristics and application" in: Psychology and Mind. Retrieved on: April 15, 2020 from Psychology and Mind: psicologiaymente.com.
4. "Innovative didactic strategies to apply in your classes" in: Miniland Educational. Retrieved on: April 15, 2020 from Miniland Educational: spain.minilandeducational.com.
5. "Didactic strategies for meaningful learning in university contexts" in: Universidad de Concepción. Retrieved on: April 15, 2020 from Universidad de Concepción: docencia.udec.cl.