Child Development & Pedagogy

1. Child Development (Elementary School Child)
   • Growth, development and maturation: their relationship with learning.
   • Principles of development of childhood.
   • Impact of heredity and environment on development: nature-nurture controversy.
   • Socialization process of the child (with special reference to teachers, parents and peers).
   • Domains of development up to late childhood: physical, cognitive, emotional, social, moral and language
   • Theories of Piaget, Kohlberg, Carol, Chomsky, Vygotsky and Rogers in relation to child development (with critical perspectives)
   • Concept of child centric and activity based educationIndividual differences: attitude, aptitude, interest and intelligence, their measurement.
   • Theories of intelligence: Spearman, Guilford, Thurstone and Gardenar-critical perspectives of the construct of intelligence
   • Gender and education: gender roles, gender bias and educational practice with special reference to child development
   • Mental health of the child: adjustment and behavioural problems during childhoodUnderstanding differences among children based on diversity of language, caste, gender, community, religion
   • Distinction between assessment for learning and assessment of learning: school based assessment, continuous and comprehensive evaluation, perspectives and practices
   • Formulating appropriate questions for assessing readiness level of learners for enhancing learning and critical thinking in the class-room, measuring learning outcome of the learners.
2. Concept of Inclusive Education and Understanding Children with Special Needs
   • Concept of exceptional children and children with special needs (CWSN).
   • Addressing learners from diverse backgrounds including disadvantaged and deprivedConcept of learning disability (LD), addressing the needs of children with learning disabilities
   • Addressing the gifted, creative, specially abled learners (mentally retarded and physically challenged).
3. Learning and Pedagogy
   • Process of thinking and learning of children: causes of children’s failure to achieve success inschool performance with respect to quality education.
   • Basic approaches to learning: processes of teaching and learning, children’s strategies of learning, learning as social activity, social context of learning, child as a problem solver and scientific investigator
   • Alternative concepts of learning in children: understanding children’s ‘errors’ as significant steps in the learning process
   • Cognition and emotions: concept and nature of cognition, basic emotions, characteristics of childhood emotionality
   • Motivation and learning: factors contributing to learning-personal and environmental, influence of motivation in learning
   • Class-room management: creation of non-threatening learning environment, managing behavioural problems in class-room
   • Punishment and its legal implications, rights of a child.
   • Guidance and counselling: concept, nature and types.

Language-I (English)

1. Language Comprehension
   • Two passages, one from prose/drama and the other from poetry with questions on:comprehension inference grammar test of vocabulary
   • Test of grammatical knowledge on the following items: Concord Question tags, Prepositions, Tense and time, Determiners, Phrasal verbs, Gerunds, Error identification, Modals, Degree of comparison Transformation of sentences
2. Pedagogy For Language Development
   • Language acquisition and learning
   • Principles of language teaching
   • Language skills – strategies to develop them
   • Critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas in oral and written form
   • Challenges of teaching language in diverse classrooms – language difficulties, errors and disorders
   • Introduction to English Phonology-vowels and consonant classification as per IPA, syllable division
   • Teaching-learning materials: textbooks, multimedia materials, ICT, multilingual resources of the classroom
   • Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency in LSRW (listening, speaking, reading and writing)
   • Strategies for teaching children with special needs (CWSN)
   • Remedial teaching.

Language-II (Bengali/Kokborok)

• Aspirants can choose from Bengali or Kokborok as their subject for the Language-II section. This section will consist of 30 MCQs from Language Comprehension and Pedagogy For Language Development.

Mathematics

• Content
  • Geometry
  • Shapes, spatial understanding, solids
  • Measurement
  • Numbers
  • Arithmetic
  • Fractions
  • Weight
  • Time
  • Data handling
  • Patterns
  • Money
• Pedagogical Issues In Mathematics
  • Language of Mathematics.
  • Community Mathematics.
  • Nature of mathematics, understanding children’s thinking and reasoning, place of mathematics in curriculum, historical development of mathematics, great mathematicians and their contributions (Indian and World)
  • Methods of teaching mathematics, inductive and deductive method, analytical and synthetic method, project method, laboratory method
  • Instructional material in mathematics, TLM in mathematics, mathematics laboratory, mathematical puzzle
  • Evaluation, concept of continuous and comprehensive evaluation
  • Problems in teaching mathematics
  • Error analysis and related aspects of learning and teaching
  • Diagnostic and remedial teaching

Environmental Studies

1. Content
   • Family and Friend
   • Work and Play
   • Plants and Animals
   • Food
   • Health and Hygiene
   • Shelters
   • Travel
   • Water
   • Air
   • Soil
   • Energy
   • Environmental Characteristics of Tripura
   • Environmental Protection Things we make and do
2. Pedagogical Issues In Environmental Studies:
   • Concept and scope of environmental studiesSignificance of environmental studies.
   • Integrated approach in environmental studies.Scope and relation of environmental studies to science and social science.Comprehensive and continuous evaluation.
   • Teaching material-aids.Approaches of presenting concepts.
   • Environmental studies and environmental education.
   • Learning principles.
   • Activities.
   • Discussion.
   • Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE).
   • Problems.

Child Development and Pedagogy Section

Language-I (English)

• Language Comprehension
  • Two passages, one from prose/drama and the other from poetry with questions on:comprehension inference grammar test of vocabulary
  • Test of grammatical knowledge on the following items:
    • Concord
    • Question tags
    • Prepositions
    • Tense and time
    • Determiners
    • Phrasal verbs
    • Gerunds
    • Error identification
    • Modals
    • Degree of comparison
    • Transformation of sentences
• Pedagogy For Language Development
  • Language acquisition and learning
  • Principles of language teaching
  • Language skills – strategies to develop them
  • Critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas in oral and written form
  • Challenges of teaching language in diverse classrooms – language difficulties, errors and disorders
  • Introduction to English Phonology-vowels and consonant classification as per IPA, syllable division
  • Teaching-learning materials: textbooks, multimedia materials, ICT, multilingual resources of the classroom
  • Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency in LSRW (listening, speaking, reading and writing)
  • Strategies for teaching children with special needs (CWSN)
  • Remedial teaching

Language-II (Bengali/Kokborok)

• Aspirants can choose from Bengali or Kokborok as their subject for the Language-II section. In this section, Questions will comprise 30 MCQs from Language Comprehension and Pedagogy For Language Development.

Mathematics and Science

• Mathematics
  • Number System
  • Algebra
  • Arithmetic
  • Geometry
  • Lines and angles, triangles and its properties
  • Mensuration
  • Data handling
  • Pedagogical Issues in Mathematics
  • Nature of mathematics, logical thinking, understanding children’s thinking and reasoning, the language of mathematics
  • Mathematics, trends and developments
  • Approach to mathematics learning
  • Problem of teaching, different teaching-learning methods
  • Learning materials in mathematics
  • Mathematics learning evaluation
• Science
  • Food and Nutrition
  • Microorganism and activities
  • Circulation and conduction
  • Ecosystem and Natural Resources
  • Agriculture and Tools
  • Pollution
  • Motion, Force and Pressure
  • Thermal Physics
  • Sound
  • Electrostatics, current electricity and magnetism
  • Optics
  • Solar System
  • Metal and Non-metal
  • PEDAGOGICAL ISSUES IN SCIENCE
  • Nature & Structure of Sciences
  • Natural Science/Aims & objectives
  • Understanding & Appreciating Science
  • Approaches/Integrated Approach
  • Observation/Experiment/Discovery (Method of Science)
  • Innovation
  • Text Material/Aids
  • Evaluation – cognitive/psychomotor/affective
  • Problems
  • Remedial Teaching

Social Studies

• Content
  • Geography
  • Geography as social study and as science.
  • The Solar System.
  • Globe, Latitudes and Longitudes.
  • Interior of the Earth.
  • Rocks: types and characteristics.
  • Our changing earth: weathering and erosion.
  • Geomorphic process: endogenous process and landforms, folding, faulting, earth-quake and volcanic
  • activities, exogenous process and resultant landforms-works of river, glacier, winds and waves.
  • Atmosphere: composition, structure, temperature, pressure, wind system and precipitation,
  • Hydrosphere: ocean currents (Indian, Pacific, Atlantic) and tides.
  • Economic geography: resources, types-natural and human.
  • Agriculture: types of farming.
  • Industry: classification, locational factors of industries: iron and steel industry, cotton textile industry,
  • automobile industry, information technology (IT) industry.
  • Human Environment: settlement, transport and communication.
  • Physical Environment: concept and nature.
  • Pollution of air and water, deforestation and its impact, ozone depletion and green-house effect.
  • Concept of hazard and disaster, industrial hazard, biological hazard, wild fire hazard, landslides.
  • India as a physical unit (relief drainage).
  • Forest, mineral and power resources of Tripura.
  • History
  • Civilization
  • Sixteen Mahajanapada and the First Empire
  • Sultans of Delhi – 1st and 2nd Battle of Tarain
  • Beginning of the Mughal Rule – Babar
  • The Establishment of Company Power in India
  • The National Movement – Gandhian Era, Role of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
  • India after Independence
  • Tribal Society and Festivals of Tripura
  • Social and Political Life
  • Diversity in Indian Society
  • Democracy, Government, Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, the Constitution of India
• Pedagogical issues
  • Concept and Nature of Social Studies/ Social Science
  • Nature, Scope and Significance of Social Science Curriculum