Which of the following is not a prescribed level of teaching ?

Concept

Teacher-education describes teaching as operating at three progressively deeper levels, each one subsuming the one before it: the memory level, the understanding level and the reflective level. This scheme classifies how deeply the learner is required to process subject matter — first storing it, then relating it, then interrogating it. Any pedagogical term that describes how instruction is organised or adapted, rather than how deeply content is processed, falls outside this three-tier hierarchy.

Application

• Memory — the memory level, associated with J. F. Herbart: teaching aims at storing and reproducing facts and information as they were presented.

• Understanding — the understanding level, associated with H. C. Morrison: teaching aims at seeing relationships among facts and arriving at generalisations.

• Reflective — the reflective level, associated with L. C. Hunt: teaching is problem-centred, and the learner tests assumptions and reasons critically in an open situation.

• Differentiation — a strategy of instructional planning, associated with Carol Ann Tomlinson: content, process or product is varied to match learner readiness, interest and profile.

Cross-check

The three-tier hierarchy is cumulative: reflective teaching presupposes understanding, and understanding presupposes memory, so the three terms sit on a single ladder of depth. Differentiation cannot be placed anywhere on that ladder, because it is not a depth of processing at all — it can be practised at the memory level, at the understanding level and at the reflective level alike. Therefore Differentiation is the term that is not a prescribed level of teaching.