Teaching Methods
What are educators everywhere screaming about science? Hands-on activities, please! Educators now believe, "Science will touch children, if you let them get their hands on it." Gone are the days of sitting in a desk, memorizing formulas, and listening to boring lectures. Nowadays, teachers are putting aside the pencil and paper, if only for a while, in exchange for a keen use of the senses. In "The Learning Cycle," for example, students experiment with a hands-on activity before being taught new material. This teaching method allows students to investigate and explore their own ideas about how/why something works, before being told. Science is not only hands-on, it is "minds-on" as well. Educators want to get students actively engaged and make science meaningful. In addition, many educators find that students can benefit from one another; teachers are beginning to use cooperative learning groups and encourage students to work together to solve a problem. Ideas and strategies for hands-on science can be found everywhere…but can hands-on science be found in the clas...
Teaching theories are as much part of the classroom as the student and the teacher. The effect individual theories have on an environment depends how they are incorporated within the classroom in addition to the influence they have had on the curriculum construction. This essay will briefly look at how motivation theory, cognitive and social cognitive theory along with constructivism have impacted on education and the classroom.
Pratt, H., Bybee, R. W., National Science Teachers Association, & National Research Council (U.S.) (2012). The NSTA reader's guide to a framework for K-12 science education. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
Children are naturally curious about the world we live in and are eager to ask questions to develop their understanding. Children should be given the opportunity to explore and discover new ideas for themselves. (Beckley et al, 2009, p. 196) The National Curriculum states that science should be taught in a way that develops the skills, attitudes and ways of working that express their scientific values by be curious, using their imagination, raising questions, working collaborate and performing practical investigations. (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum accessed on 13.05.2014)
In role play, the learners are assigned roles which they act out within a scenario given by the lecturer. The lecturer must choose a scenario for a role play that gives the learners an opportunity to prepare what they have been taught. The role should also keep the learners interested. A scenario for a role play can be found by things they have encountered in their lives, from a book or a movie. After choosing the scenario for a role play, their learners have to then brainstorm ideas on how the scenario would progress. The lecturer must try to keep the skill set for the role play simple or to a point where the learners can understand. Role plays with problems or arguments in them can be excellent motivators for making the characters in the role play talk. Once the role play has been chosen, the appropriate language use would be next. The use of vocabulary needs to be in sync with the grade level of the role play. The lecturer must then provide the learners with solid information and simple role descriptions. The lecturer then can either ask for volunteers or assign roles in advance, the latter keeps things simple with no time wasted. Finally when the role play is complete, the lecturer will take time to listen to the rest of the learner’s opinions about the play.
teach a new skill in a part by part method. It doesn't allow much time
...the outcome of the students learning, recall of the material, and social interactions as they move further in their education. Although these practices have been known to work well in the classroom, a teacher should still assess each practice as they are being utilized in order to know which practices benefited the students greatly and which practices did not help the students or may need improvements since every student does learn and retain information on a different level. These effective practices along with numerous other practices are important for incorporating a diverse learning environment, positive interactions, and lifelong learning, but it is how the teacher implements each practice that makes the difference in obtaining the results needed and making such practices effective and useful in not just the Science classroom, but any content area classroom.
In classrooms today, educators are constantly seeking and implementing engaging lessons that will increase student knowledge and skills. The intent of the activities is to help students become independent learners and use process thinking skills. Students seem to learn best by actually directing their own learning and doing, rather than being led from step to step by the teacher. In science, it is especially important that students learn by inquiry and use more of a hands-on approach to learning scientific concepts. According to Wilke and Straits (2005), inquiry-based learning is where students explore a problem using the processes and tools of the discipline. It is often shown in a way that resembles the scientific method (Wilke & Straits, 2005). The scientific inquiry model demonstrates four phases that involve students in identifying a problem and investigation using inquiry-based learning (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). The four phases suggests that students are introduced to an area of investigation, then they develop a problem, next the problem is identified in the investigation and finally students come up with ways to solve the problem (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). Science education is part of everyday life being that the skills learned in science, such as, the scientific method are used in solving problems that occur daily. Dalton, Morocco, Tivnan, & Mead, 1997 found that students seem to learn best by actually doing science, such as asking questions, designing experiments, observing, predicting, manipulating materials, and learning from their own mistakes. I believe the scientific inquiry model exemplifies an excellent way to implement inquiry-based learning by using the scientific method in any classroom; es...
“Great art relies on the mastery and application of foundational skills, learned individually through diligent study.” (Lemov, 2010, p. 1)
A teacher’s responsibilities are to ensure that every student gets the education that they deserve from a well-structured curriculum and materials. Within the teacher’s responsibilities a strong foundation of instruction has to be implemented, this is why instructional strategies are significant in a teacher’s career. The strategies for instruction vary from teacher to teacher; as a result there are no specific ways to employ strategies within instruction. The main purpose of this essay is to display knowledge of methods that are involved in teaching second language instruction for various ages and levels of students. This essay will also develop from the following components that methods and techniques are important to encourage tactical instructional strategies. These components are comprehensible input, feedback that is on-going, specific and immediate, grouping structures and techniques, building background and vocabulary development along with student engagement.
After six weeks I’ve learnt a lot of things from this subject. In the first part I’ll summarize the main points of the lessons and in the second part I will go into detail some extents I find interesting.
When integrating Nature of Science into curriculum, assumptions are made about students and instructors. These assumptions include that students are all at the same level in terms of science understanding and concepts as the rest of their classmates, and also assumes that the students learn at the same rates (NGSS: Appendix A). These assumptions are detrimental to science education when focus needs to be on the content being taught rather than teaching background of science as a standalone. Teaching NOS explicitly becomes increasingly difficult when students aren’t given access to proper science learning environments. As mentioned in the High Hopes – Few Opportunities reading, it is stated that, “California students do no typically experience high-quality science learning opportunities[.]” (Dorph et al., 2011). When students don’t have a basis for scientific concepts, it becomes increasingly difficult to teach NOS. America’s Lab Report further expands on the idea that this style of learning is not likely achievable, as “[N]o single […] experience is likely to achieve all of these learning goals.” (Schweingruber et al., 2005) where learning goals is referencing the goals of laboratory experiences that include understanding Nature of Science. Again, when a lack of understanding for general science exists, its arguably much more difficult to teach
Developing meaningful Science understanding is a core outcome of the learning cycle and occurs primarily through students’ actively engagement with ideas and evidence (Skamp & Peers, 2012). When students realize that their ideas and thoughts are valued and treated with respect by the group members, when they actively involve themselves in group activities, they feel more assertive, and thus, participate more in activities.
TASK: Assess four teaching methods and strategies used in your school and discus innovations that should take place to make them more effective and learner centred.
One of the widest used methods is learning through discovery. Discovery is finding out information using hands on experiments. The children can discover what happens in science and why. They answer the problems for themselves. They use their schema, prior knowledge of science, to search for information. The cycle of scientific discovery is first a question or series of questions are raised. Second, through a discussion a problem is identified and narrowed so that the kids can solve the problem. Third, with the assistance of the teacher, the children propose a way of looking at the problem and then collect the...
UniServe Science. (2004). Alternative strategies for science teaching and assessment. Retrieved March 7, 2004 from http://science.uniserve.edu.au/school/support/strategy.html