Maxims of teaching mainly help teachers to:

Concept

Maxims of teaching are general, experience-based principles that guide how instruction should progress, such as moving from known to unknown, simple to complex, and concrete to abstract.

They help organize teaching so that learners connect new ideas with prior knowledge and understand them systematically.

Application

A teacher uses these maxims while deciding the sequence, examples, explanations, and classroom activities in a lesson. Their main role is therefore to help the teacher plan and conduct teaching.

Contrast

• Preparing examinations is an assessment task involving test construction and scoring.

• Controlling classroom discipline is a classroom-management task involving routines and behaviour.

• Completing the syllabus is a coverage and pacing goal, not the instructional principle itself.

Cross-check

When a teacher moves from known ideas to unfamiliar ones and from simple material to complex material, the maxim directly determines the sequence and conduct of the lesson. Hence, the answer is plan and conduct teaching.