The document discusses stimulus variation, which refers to deliberately changing teaching behaviors and stimuli in the classroom to maintain students' attention. It provides examples of stimulus variation techniques like teacher movement, gestures, varying speech patterns, focusing on different senses, and encouraging verbal and physical student participation. The purpose is to help students understand lessons, stay engaged, and avoid boredom through changes in stimuli that capture attention. Stimulus variation is based on principles showing that contrasting or moving stimuli attract more attention than uniform environments.

1. P R E S E N T E D B Y : -
A N U R A D H A G H A T A K
R E S E A R C H S C H O L A R
F A C U L T Y O F E D U C A T I O N
B A N A S T H A L I V I D Y A P I T H
Skill of Stimulus Variation

2. What Is Stimulus??
 Stimulus refers to an agent, action or condition that
elicits, accelerates or rouses to physiological or
psychological action, activity or responses.

3. Delivery and Stimulus Variation Skills
Purpose:
To help learners understand the topic of the lesson,
to achieve the competence set in the curriculum
To stimulate the students, increase their active
participation, enthusiasm and spirit of study, to
avoid boredom and apatism.

4.  This skill is related to class-room attention. It is based on the principle that
change in the stimuli in one’s perception captures his attention or uniformity in
the perceived environment distracts his attention. This skill involves deliberate
changing of various attention producing behaviours by the teachers in order to
keep pupil’s attention at high level. Such behaviours include teacher
movements, gestures, change in speech patterns, focusing, changing
interaction styles, shifting sensory channels, pausing and such others.
 In the case of children it is very important that in the classroom they may
remain attentive. It has been observed that children especially up to the age of
nearly 10 years are not able to attend to one thing for a very long period. At the
same time if there is a variation the period of attention can be increased. There
are other factors in the external environment which have direct bearing on the
attention of a child.

5.  Psychologists have found out that we tend to attend to objects because of:
a) INTENSITY-The louder a sound or brighter a light, the more we are likely to
attend to it. Unless the loudness or brightness are so intense that they cause
discrimination to the individual, the individual adapts to the changed intensities,
provided the stimulus continuously affects the individual.
b) CONTRAST-If there is a contrast it attracts our attention. For Example, white and
black when they occur together, or ticking of a clock in total silence or a tall person
among short-sized individuals and vice versa.
c) MOVEMENT- Things which move are able to capture the attention of the children.
d) SELF ACTIVITY- When we do a thing ourselves actively, we attend to it more
than when we merely see things being done. So teachers who during their teaching
show mobility, use gestures, change the pitch of their voice, change the volume of
their voice and hence inflection of voice, are able to attract the attention of the
children better than others who do not show any variation in their teaching.

6. Some of the common teaching behavior in the classroom which fall under variation are:
 Teacher Movement: For Example, purposeful movement from one place to another
like moving to the black-board, moving to look at children’s work, moving forward
to talk to pupils. In short, all the variations which attract attentions of students.
 Teacher Gestures: Similarly if the teacher shows movement, emphasizing important
experiences by moving his hands, etc., he is able to attract the attention of the
students.
 Changes in Speech Pattern: Sudden changes in voice, in volume or speed of the
teacher’s speech also attract attention.
 Changes of Sensory focus: Since children enjoy change in their sense channels, for
example, from listening to looking, from reading to writing, from thinking to
working or changes in the focus of attention or changes from listening to teaching
etc., such changes in the sensory focus could be used for attracting their attention.

7.  Verbal Pupil Participation: If the students participate in the development of a lesson
e.g., by talking amongst themselves or by writing on the black-board. These are
helpful in attracting the attention of the students.
 Physical Pupil Participation: Performing an exp0eriment by the students,
administration by the students or working on a project by themselves are all
activities which help attract the attention of the students.

8. Thank You.