Individual difference

concept, meaning and definitions, causes of Individual Difference, Educational Implications, Dimensions of Individual Difference, Remedial Measures for Individual Difference

1. Individual Differences Dr. Manju N. D Assistant Professor S.V.K. National College of Education

2. Individual Difference Concept: No two individuals are alike; not even identical twins Each individual is distinct and unique Individual differ in their intelligence, aptitude, interests, attitude and other personality traits, Physical, cognitive and personality areas . Every man certain aspects:    Like all other man Like some other man  Like no other man These differences between individuals that separate them from one another and make one as a unique individual in oneself are termed as Individual differences. Knowledge of individual differences leads to the effective teaching.

3. Definition of individual difference According Carter B. Good : “the variations or deviations among individuals in regard to a single characteristic or a number of characteristics”. Osborne:  “Individual differences as dissimilarity between persons that distinguish them from one another” The Dictionary of Clinical psychology: “Individual differences as the deviation of individuals from the group average or from each other”.

4. Causes of Individual Differences: 1. Heredity: Some heretical traits bring a change from one individual to other. An individual’s height, size, shape and color of hair, shape of face, nose, hands and legs so to say the entire structure of the body is determined by his heretical qualities. Intellectual differences are also to a great extent influenced by hereditary factor.

5. 2. Environment: Environment brings individual differences in behaviour, activities, attitude, and style of life characteristics, Personality etc. Environment does not refer only physical surroundings but also it refers the different types of people, society, their culture, customs, traditions, social heritage, ideas and ideals.

6. 3. Race and Nationality: Race and Nationality is one cause of individual difference. Indians are very peace loving, Chinese are cruel; Americans are very frank due to race and nationality.

7. 4. Sex: Due to sex variation one individual differs from other. Men are strong in mental power. On the other hand women on the average show small superiority over men in memory, language and aesthetic sense. Women excel the men in shouldering social responsibilities and have a better control over their emotions.

8. 5. Age: Age is another factor which is responsible in bringing individual differences. Learning ability and adjustment capacity naturally grow with age. When one grows in age can acquire better control over our emotions and better social responsibilities. When a child grows then this maturity and development goes side by side.

9. 5. Education: Education is one major factor which brings individual differences. There is a wide gap in the behaviors of educated and uneducated persons. All traits of human beings like social, emotional and intellectual are controlled and modifies through proper education. This education brings a change in our attitude, behaviour, appreciations, Personality. It is seen that uneducated persons are guided by their instinct and emotions where as the educated persons are guided by their reasoning power.

10. Educational Implications of Individual Differences: 1. Aims of education, curriculum, method of teaching should be linked with individual differences considering the different abilities and traits individual. 2. Curriculum should be designed as per the interest, abilities and needs of different students. 3. The teacher has to adopt different types of methods of teaching considering individual difference related to interest, need, etc.

11. 4. Some co-curricular activities such as Drama, music, literary activities (Essay & Debate Competition) should be assigned to children according to their interest. 5. Teacher uses certain specific teaching aids which will attract the children towards teaching considering their interest and need. 6. Various methods such as playing method, project method, Montessori method, story telling methods are to be used considering/discovering how different children respond to a task or a problem.

12. 7. The division of pupils into classes should not be based only on the mental age or chronological age of children but the physical, social and emotional maturity should be given due consideration. 8. In case of vocational guidance the counselor is to plan the guidance technique keeping in view the needs and requirements of the students.

13. Dimensions of Individual differences Physical differences: Height, weight, colour of skin, eye, Hair, Shortness or tallness of stature, darkness or fairness of complexion, fatness, thinness, or weakness are various physical individual differences., etc.

14.   Intellectual differences: Reasoning, thinking, imagination, creative expression, There are differences in intelligence level among different individuals. The individuals from high intelligence (above 120 I.Q.) to idiots (from 0 to 50 I.Q.) on the basis of their intelligence level. etc.

15. Difference in social and moral development Happy social life, Anti-social activities, Feels isolated, Unethical behaviours etc.

16. Emotional differences: Positive emotion, negative emotion, mature and immature emotion etc.

17. Difference in motor ability Time, speed of action, steadiness, rate of muscular movement etc…

18. Difference in achievement Achievement in knowledge Schooling, Experience. differences are very much visible in reading, writing and in learning mathematics. , etc… Difference in interest and aptitude   Group, books, Meeting people, Attending social functions, music., etc….

19.   Difference in attitude, beliefs and opinions Groups, Attitude towards learning, Attitude towards subjects – Maths , science and social science object, Ideas., etc…

20. Learning differences Memorization, learning styles, group, individual learning., etc…. Personality differences: Introverts, Extroverts, Ambiverts , Stable minded, and Unstable minded.

21. Differences on account of sex : Women have greater skill in memory while men have greater motor ability. Handwriting of women is superior while men excel in mathematics and logic. Women show greater skill in making sensory distinctions of taste, touch and smell etc., while men show greater reaction and conscious of size- weight illusion. Women are superior to men in languages, while men are superior in physics and chemistry. Women are better than men in mirror drawing. Faults of speech etc. in men were found to be three times of such faults in women.

22. Problems arise out of individual differences in classroom: It is important for teachers to know the problems arise in classroom. such as  physical   characteristics , intelligence , perception ,  gender ,  ability , learning styles , which are individual differences of the learners. An effective and productive  learning-teaching process can be planned by considering these individual differences of the students.

23. Remedial measures for individual difference Every teacher should try to have the desired knowledge of the abilities, capacities, interests, attitudes, aptitudes and other personality traits of his pupils and in the light of this knowledge should render individual guidance to children for the maximum utilization of their potentialities. Proper knowledge of the individual’s potentialities The first step in making provision for the individual differences is to know about the abilities, capacities, interests, aptitudes and other personality traits of individual pupils.

24. Schools may also adopt special programs or method of teaching like Dalton plan (children are presented with opportunities to make educational choices about their learning), the Winnetka plan (the plan attempted to expand educational focus to creative activities and emotional and social development) the project method or use programmed learning material for enabling the students to learn their own individual pace.

25. In the light of the results derived from various tests for knowing individual differences in terms of individual potentialities in various dimensions, the students in a class or area of activity can be divided into homogenous groups. Such division can prove beneficial in adjusting instruction to varying individual differences.

26. Adjusting the curriculum The curriculum should be as flexible and differentiated as possible. It should have the provision for a number of diversified courses and co-curricular experiences. It should provide adjustment suiting the local requirements and potentialities of the students in different groups.

27. Adjusting the method of teaching Every teacher should be somewhat free to formulate his own plan and strategy and adopt instructional procedure which he finds most suited to the particular types of pupils under him. He should try to follow a different procedure or method of instruction suiting the requirements of varying ability groups of his pupils.

28. Create a support system. Some students need additional help if they are to succeed. You can refer them to student support services, but also consider holding special sessions or creating online tutorials to address struggling students’ special needs.

29. The size of the class or section should be as small as possible. The teacher should try to pay individual attention the group under instruction. The teacher should keep in view the individual differences of his students while engaging them in drill or practice work in classroom or assigning home task In case ability grouping is not possible and more specifically under the prevalent system of class teaching, special coaching and guidance programe for both the dull and gifted children is most helpful.

30. Thank you………..