Chapter 2

Effective Procedure in Teaching Science

INTRODUCTION

Effective science teaching requires creativity, imagination,

and innovation. In light of concerns about American science
literacy, scientists and educators have struggled to teach this
discipline more effectively. Science Teaching
Reconsidered provides undergraduate science educators with
a path to understanding students, accommodating their
individual differences, and helping them grasp the methods—
and the wonder—of science.

What impact does teaching style have? How do I plan a

course curriculum? How do I make lectures, classes, and
laboratories more effective? How can I tell what students are
thinking? Why don't they understand? Figure 1. The 5E learning model

This chapter will present a number of teaching methods that have been used in teachng science within
the traditional formats: lectures, discussion sessions, and laboratories. Likewise the chapter will
discuss, how effective each method is in attaining the specific objectives set for the lesson, how each
is usually carried out, and finally how each can further be improved to guarantee success in its
implementation despite the usual constraints.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this module, the learner should be able to:

-Discuss the Procedures in teaching science

-Identify different methods in teaching science

LEARNING CONTENT

A. Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning should be inseparable, in that learning is a criterion and product of
effective teaching. In essence, learning is the goal of teaching. Someone has not taught unless
someone else has learned. After a few years of teaching, many faculty realize that students learn too
little of what they teach. Science teaching requires attention to both the content of the course and the
process of moving students from their initial state of knowledge and understanding to the desired
level. In fact, teaching is part of a whole that comprises the teacher, the learner, the disciplinary
content, the teaching/learning process, and the evaluation of both the teacher and the learner.

Undergraduate students value good teaching, and many of those who switch from a science major
to another field cite poor teaching as an important factor in their decision (Seymour and Hewitt,
1994). When the data from students who persist in a science major was combined with data from
students who switched out of a science major, poor teaching by science faculty was the students’
most frequently cited concern. Although students are turned off by poor teaching, they also have
identified characteristics of good teaching:

• a teacher’s enthusiasm and passion for the subject,

• rapport between a teacher and a student or group of students during discussions in and out of class,
• intellectual challenges from a teacher,
• clarity and organization in presenting analytical and conceptual understanding of ideas, and
• a teacher’s scholarship.

B. Teaching style
Studies of teaching and learning have led to classification of teaching styles into three general
categories: discipline-centered, instructorcentered, and student-centered (Dressel and Marcus,
1982; Woods, 1995).

1. In discipline-centered teaching, the course has a fixed structure. The needs, concerns, and
requirements of teacher and student are not considered because the course is driven by and
depends mainly on the disciplinary content that must be presented. The teacher transmits
information, but the content is dictated by some separate authority such as a department
syllabus committee or textbook author.
2. The teacher acts as a model of the educated person in instructor-centered teaching. He or
she is regarded as the authoritative expert, the main source of knowledge, and the focal
point of all activity. The student is the passive recipient of the information already
acquired by the teacher. The teacher selects from the discipline the information to be
taught, studied, and learned.
3. Student-centered teaching focuses on the student and, in particular, on the cognitive
development of the student. The teacher’s goal is to help students grasp the development
of knowledge as a process rather than a product. The focus of classroom activities and
assignments is on the student- centered process of inquiry itself, not on the products of
inquiry. Students create their own conceptual or cognitive models. Content, teaching style,
and methods are adapted to aid the cognitive and intellectual growth of students. Student-
centered teaching combines an understanding of the way that humans process information
with other factors that affect learning such as attitudes, values, beliefs, and motivation.

Although there are many ways to teach effectively, all require that the teacher have knowledge of
three things:
1) the material being taught;
2) thebest instructional strategies to teach the material.
What is the most effective way to teach students? The answer depends on what students are expected
to learn. Students taught by lectures, instructor- centered presentations, and student-centered methods
achieve similar results on tests that measure factual knowledge. However, student-centered
discussions lead to better retention, better transfer of knowledge to other situations, better motivation
for further learning, and better problem-solving ability (McKeachie, 1994). Active participation by
students helps them construct a better framework from which to generalize their knowledge.
C. Methods for teaching Science
All science teaching methods come down to either teacher-centred or student-centred instruction.
Both types of instruction have their place, however in practice have very different dynamics in the
classroom.

 LECTURES (Teacher-centered)

In this approach, it is the teacher that is the focus. Students either passively take notes or ask
questions through the teacher’s presentation. Handy for large groups of students or for when you
need to get through a large body of information. The key to this lesson style is to keep it lively by
inserting graphics, video snippets, animations, science demonstrations, audio grabs or guest
appearances via video conference.

This method is the most commonly used mode by the teachers. This expects the students to quietly sit
and listen to the talk about the subject matter. The teacher does all the talking while the students are
passive, doing little or no talking. The lecture is seldom used in secondary school classroom teaching-
learning situations. Most of what happens in teaching situations with a class size of over 200 students
in tertiary institutions is lecturing. This is an organized verbal presentation of a subject matter
dominated by the teacher with little or no student involvement. The teacher is responsible for
organizing, preparing and presenting the lecture while the students listen. A teacher would have no
option than to use the lecture method when the topic is abstract. It saves time and more topics are
covered, but it is rote learning and most often students lose the essential parts of the lesson. The
learners are passive and the class is boring and at the end does not make room for the acquisition of
scientific skills.

Some of the advantages of this method are:

 It allows the material to be clarified and presented to a large group in a short period of time.
 It gives teachers maximum control of the teaching in terms of the amount of interaction, type of
substance presented and organization of material.
 Since note is taking accompanies the lecture, the method promotes learners’ oral and written
expression.
 It also helps learners to cultivate the habit of listening attentively.

However, in spite of the advantages mention above, it also has its own limitations which are:

 It encourages one-way communication.

 It hardly takes care of individual differences.
 The teacher can present too much material leading to an unrealistic level of student
understanding of the topic and causing information to be quickly forgotten.

In other to control students’ attention and reenergize them, lectures should be punctuated with brief
periodic activities such as asking a variety of questions.

 Co-operative Learning

Co-operative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of
different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a
concept or subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also
for helping teammates learn, thus promoting academic achievement and cross-cultural understanding.
However, the quality of achievement and other outcomes depend on the implementation of
cooperative learning methods that are characterized by at least two essential elements: positive
interdependence and individual accountability. In a group task, each member is individually
accountable for part of an outcome that cannot be completed unless the members work together in
other words, the group members are positively interdependent. Some co-operative learning methods
include:

 Group investigations: to emphasize higher order thinking skills and produce a group project;
 Jigsaw: used with narrative material where each team member is responsible for learning a
specific part of a topic, becoming the “expert” and then sharing their findings with the group.
 Guided reading and other integrated cooperative reading strategies

 Demonstrations

Demonstrations are the repetition of series of planned actions designed to illustrate certain
phenomena. The demonstration can be presented by the student or the teacher. Demonstration often
occur when students have a hard time connecting theories to actual practice or when students are
unable to understand the application of theories. Demonstration in science class involves carrying out
science and technology activities to illustrate science and technological concepts or ideas.

Demonstration method refers to the type of teaching method in which the teacher is the principal
actor while the learners watch with the intention to act later. Here, the teacher does whatever the
learners are expected to do at the end of the lesson by showing them how to do it and explaining the
step-by-step process to them, it is also described as a display or an exhibition usually done by the
teacher while the students watch with keen interest. He further added that it involves showing how
something works or the steps involved in the process. Some of the advantages of this method as
outlined below includes:

 It saves time and facilitates material economy.

 The method is an attention inducer and a powerful motivator in lesson delivery.
 Students receive feedback immediately through their own products.
 It gives a real-life situation of course of study as students acquire skills in real-life situations
using tools and materials.
 It helps to motivate students when carried out by skilled teachers and it is good in showing the
appropriate ways of doing things.

Teachers not only demonstrate specific learning concepts within the classroom, they can also
participate in demonstration classrooms to help improve their own teaching strategies, which may or
may not be demonstrative in nature. Although the literature is limited, studies show that the effects of
demonstration classroom teachers include a change of perspective in relating to students, more
reflection in the teachers’ own classroom strategies, and more personal responsibility for student
learning.
 The demonstration can be carried out to show:

 That water evaporates when heated;

 How to make doormat;
 Application of pulleys in construction sites, quarry sites etc.;
 Friction in metal fabrication workshop and many more.

In carrying out the demonstration, the following should be noted:

 Purpose of the demonstration must be clear to all students;

 All students should see every part of the demonstration;
 Involve the students as much as possible; and
 Use simple and readily available apparatus and materials for demonstrations.

Its advantages are:

 It is a powerful means of motivating learners and arresting attention when it is employed at the
beginning of the lesson.
 It saves time.
 Materials are economize as the demonstration is done for a group of learners and not individual
learners.
 It makes abstract concepts real.
 It aids learners’ observational skills.

Its only weakness is that it does not allow learners to develop manipulative skills as the
demonstration is usually done by the teacher. This method can be combined with field trip method.
This is because some of the activities that take place in field trips are first demonstrated to the
learners by the teachers or the resource persons in the course of explanation.

 DISCUSSIONS

Discussion simply means talking over topics from various points of view and the teacher’s role is
to act as moderator. Discussion in a science classroom should be differentiated from lecturing. This is
because discussion implies that every student has background information that provides him with
viewpoints. In the use of this method, there is an exchange of ideas between the teacher and the
learner.
Discussion method can be used to introduce a lesson thus motivating students’ activities. It
develops a positive interpersonal relationship and provides students with a sense of confidence
through frequent exchange of ideas between the teacher and the students. It enables the teacher to get
a feedback on topics taught and learners are able to express themselves in relation to the
understanding they have on a particular topic. However, it cannot be used often as it does not allow
easy coverage of syllabus, and not all topics led themselves to discussion. As the discussion method
must necessarily start with a question, the teacher must avoid vague questions and so requires a
thorough knowledge of the topics under discussion.
  Field Trip/ Excursion Method

Field trip is an out-of-the classroom activity whereby children study things in their natural setting.
Concept about nature or organisms in their habitat are best learned by on-the-spot observations rather
than by discussions in the classroom. A quick visit to the school garden to observe the insects that
help the pollinate the flowers is in itself a field trip. It does not have to be ten kilometers away from
the school. Familiarity with their immediate surroundings and naturl phenomena occuring in them is a
major concern of the science teacher who is handling a children in this age level. They must be
exposed to the real situations rather than to the artificial atmosphere of the classroom, whenever a
study of the locale is needed. They gain first-hand expirience about the topic being studied as
contrasted to learning from the pages of the book.

Popular field trip sites include zoos, nature centers, community agencies such as fire stations and
hospitals, government agencies, local businesses, amusement parks, science museums, and factories,
not only do field trips provide alternative educational opportunities for children, they can also benefit
the community if they include some type of community service. Field trips also provide students the
opportunity to take a break from their normal routine and experience more hands-on learning. Places
like zoos and nature centers often have interactive displays that allow children to touch plants or
animals.

Students who directly participate in a field experience generate a more positive attitude about the
subject. Field trip is also defined by many scholars as student experiences outside of the classroom at
interactive locations designed for educational purposes.

Field trips may be planned for five purposes:

 To provide firsthand experience,

 To stimulate interest and motivation in science,
 To add relevance to learning and interrelationships,
 To strengthen observation and perception skills, and
 To promote personal (social) development.

The teacher should give the students opportunity to select any of scientific and technological interest
for the field trip. The teacher should visit the site for the field trip before the date of excursion and
make necessary and adequate arrangements. The science and technology concepts to be learned
should have relevance to the curriculum and the students should have sufficient time to observe and
ask questions. When the pupils return, the teacher should ask them to discuss and make a report of the
trip

 Project method

The project method also discussed under headings like project work, project approach, and project-
based learning, is one of the standard teaching methods. It is a sub-form of action-centered and
student-directed learning and an enterprise in which children engage in practical problem solving for
a certain period of time. He also revealed that projects focus on applying not imparting specific
knowledge or skills, and more rigorously than lecture, demonstration, or recitation, they aim at the
enhancement of intrinsic motivation, independent thinking, self-esteem, and social responsibility.
scholars also opin that proponents of the project method attempt to allow the student to solve
problems with as little teacher direction as possible. The teacher is seen more as a facilitator than a
delivery of knowledge and information.

Project method is a method used by science teachers to individualize instruction. It is used to teach a
central theme, idea or problem to be tackled. This theme could be given to individual student of group
of students. The students are encouraged to investigate, collect specimens or materials, analyze and
construct things on their own. The teacher act as a guider in facilitating the students’ learning. At the
end of the investigation, the reports on the project are collected and discussed with the whole class.
Examples of projects in BST include:

 Investigating the different methods of conserving and improving soil fertility,

 Making simple weighing balance,
 Making simple models of machines.

 Laboratory or Experimental Method

The laboratory method refers to the activities such as observation of processes, products or events
carried out by a group of students or individual students. Laboratory method can be used to practice
skills or acquire skills such as interpreting and operating experiments. Experiments could be carried
out to verify hypotheses, confirm the known and discover the unknown. It aids the development of
manipulating skills, enhances realistic learning, it aids better retention, it develops competence in
learners in learners by developing confidence and helps develop students’ scientific attitudes, interest,
and skills. The method aids the learners to use their mental process such as observing, inferring,
measuring and data analysis. The advantages of this method may not fully be realized because of lack
of the facilities and equipment necessary for the effective use of this method.
Through experimenting the students get in direct contact with the materials needed and they
personally gather the date which they analyzed in order to arrive at a conclusion. They learn ny
actually “doing things” themselves.

 Co-operative Learning

Co-operative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of
different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a
concept or subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also
for helping teammates learn, thus promoting academic achievement and cross-cultural understanding.
However, the quality of achievement and other outcomes depend on the implementation of
cooperative learning methods that are characterized by at least two essential elements: positive
interdependence and individual accountability. In a group task, each member is individually
accountable for part of an outcome that cannot be completed unless the members work together in
other words, the group members are positively interdependent. Some co-operative learning methods
include:

 Group investigations: to emphasize higher order thinking skills and produce a group project;
 Jigsaw: used with narrative material where each team member is responsible for learning a
specific part of a topic, becoming the “expert” and then sharing their findings with the group.
 Guided reading and other integrated cooperative reading strategies.
 Teacher Exposition
Teacher exposition is a teacher-centered technique used to present subject matter in an orderly and
organized fashion. It is the most frequently used method by teachers. It is normally confused with the
lecture method, which is extremely expository. Teacher exposition is not a lecture method. A good
teacher exposition differs from a good lecture in that the former makes specific provisions for
obtaining knowledge for pupil learning at regular and frequent intervals, while the latter does not.
However, teacher exposition is said to be teacher-centered, it is relatively more student-centered that
lecture method. Obtaining knowledge of pupils’ learning is accomplished by frequent monitoring of
pupils’ performance at relevant cognitive tasks and by observing the non-verbal dimension of the
pupils’ communication. Teacher exposition, therefore, constitutes constant active interaction between
teacher and pupils. A lecture may not necessarily involve the pupils actively.

Since teacher exposition is the presentation of content in an orderly fashion, the key to its success is
organization. That is, the breaking down of the content into less complex subtopics and the
sequencing of these subtopics in a way that would maximize learning.

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Activity 2

What are the methods of teaching that you will be using in your chosen topic?

Topic: ____________________________________

Objectives: 1.

2.

3.

Methods of teaching the topic: _______________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________
Resources
https://asaolusam.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/what-are-the-methods-of-teaching-science/

https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/articles/methods-for-teaching-science/

Pics