The Procedural contents they are one of the three main types of content that can be taught within an educational setting. These are tools that can be acquired by the student whose purpose is to collect, understand, apply, rank and relate the data learned in a more theoretical way.
The procedural contents are opposed to the other two main types considered by modern educational theories: declarative contents (which include data, concepts, theories and facts) and attitudinal contents (values, attitudes, beliefs, ways of behaving ...).
While the declarative contents form the know about, and the attitudinal the know how to be, the procedural contents create the body of knowledge related to the know to do. Although they are present in almost all teachings, they are more important in some disciplines than in others.
Thus, for example, learning to solve equations, to do a headstand, to play an instrument or to write a text would be types of procedural content. In this article we will study its most important characteristics and we will see several examples of them.
Article index
The most typical examples of procedural content have to do with a “know-how” related to the body. Normally, they are related to actions, body movements, manual dexterity, and with skills such as balance or fine and gross motor skills.
Purely physical procedural content is a fundamental part of a large number of disciplines, occurring in fields as seemingly different as the arts, handicrafts, sports or crafts. Also in our daily lives we can find examples of purely bodily skills.
Thus, playing an instrument, dancing or surfing implies acquiring a series of totally physical procedural contents; but also cooking, driving a vehicle or speaking are largely skills of this type.
Despite not being so clear cut, many mental abilities also fall under the category of procedural knowledge. Actions such as reading, applying logic, or solving a mathematical problem would fall into this category..
The purely cognitive procedural content has the same characteristics as the physical one, with the difference that it is fully learned and expressed at the mental level, without the intervention of the body..
Some skills belonging to the procedural content category can be mixed; that is, include purely physical parts and other only mental parts.
For example, speaking and writing would require both motor and cognitive skills. However, most knowledge of this type belongs to one group or the other..
Unlike what happens with declarative contents (data, facts, theories ...), procedural contents cannot be acquired simply by listening to another person talk about them or even observing them. On the contrary, it is necessary to add an element of practice that allows to internalize the new knowledge.
Thus, the learning of procedural content goes through four phases. In the first, the individual finds himself in what is known as "unconscious incompetence"; that is, you are completely unaware of how the skill you want to acquire works, and you are not even able to distinguish what its improvement points are.
After observing someone who masters this skill, having attended an explanation about it or having investigated on their own, the person is able to understand what they have to improve to master it but cannot yet carry it out. It is, therefore, in the phase of "conscious incompetence".
In the third phase, that of "conscious competence", the individual is capable of carrying out the actions related to the procedural content, but must be focused and is likely to make mistakes. Finally, when the new knowledge is internalized, the last phase is reached, that of "unconscious competence".
As we have already seen, procedural contents cannot be learned by simple imitation or repetition, unlike declarative ones. Because of this, an educator has to change their strategies when teaching their students to master one of these skills..
Although theory can serve as a foundation when starting to acquire procedural knowledge, the only way for students to truly acquire it is through practice. Therefore, the characteristics of the appropriate educational environment to teach these skills are very different from the usual ones..
For example, in an environment where procedural content is taught, the ratio of students to teachers should be much lower than in a normal classroom. In this way, the educator can correct the mistakes that each student makes, thus advancing their learning more quickly..
Creating music using an instrument requires the acquisition of a great deal of procedural knowledge. If, for example, you want to learn to play the violin, the student will have to acquire skills such as the correct way to hold it, the proper position of the bow hand, or the way to move both hands to produce sounds.
In this way, a violin teacher will be able to explain at a theoretical level what the student has to do; but learning will only be effective if it is practiced, and the educator is correcting his mistakes and showing him directly what must change.
Within the formal educational system, one of the most typical procedural contents is the resolution of mathematical problems. The method that is traditionally followed for students to acquire this skill is quite ineffective, so many students have problems in this area.
Thus, a large part of mathematics teachers theoretically explain the steps that must be taken to solve a problem, and they hope that students will learn to do it directly.
A much better strategy would be to give the explanation, let the students try to carry out the steps, and correct their mistakes one by one..
Unfortunately, in the modern educational system it is unfeasible for a teacher to pay personalized attention to each of his students, so procedural content is often the one that causes the most problems in the classroom..
Yet No Comments