Teaching science to students is one thing and teaching science effectively is another thing. The latter one is more important for any science teacher. To effectively teach science so that students get a whole grasp of the theory in such a way that they will be able to think critically and scientifically as well is what is known as teaching science effectively. It is a complex affair affected by different factors like the characteristics of the students, environments, teachers, parents, guidelines, etc.
Teaching methods may vary from place to place, and it may depend on the institute or the teacher. However, there are some principles which have been found to be more effective than the others when it comes to teaching science effectively.
1. Address every child’s needs
Academic curricula are standardized for students in general. It is not always possible to take care of one student’s personal classroom requirement. But teachers must remember that students have abilities and resources different from one another. Meaningful teaching and learning cannot take place without taking care of the fundamental needs of the students.
2. Vary strategies
The same teaching patterns can bore the students no matter how interesting the topic is. Also, because of the diverse nature of students in a group, teaching must be done to cater to all the different intelligence level and learning styles of the students.
3. Relevancy in what is being taught
Students often want to know not just the “what” factor but also the “why”. As in why they are being taught what they are being taught. Science lessons are mostly abstract and generalized in that they don’t stand for just one particular situation and yet applies to all circumstances.
Students may not find the selected content from the curriculum as something directly related to their lives and thus it is hard for them to identify with such abstract phenomena. Therefore, it is important to tailor the content so that students can find it worth learning or knowing about. Science teaching is effective when students see the lesson has a direct impact and relation in their everyday life.
4. Elicit thinking
One of the most important principles in teaching science is that the aim is to give students enough help so that they won’t be too overwhelmed but at the same time not too much that they won’t give efforts to understand it. They must be given the space to put in their earnest attempt in the process of learning science. It is found that students who put in more mental effort watching an educational video score better than those made to watch easy expository video of the same content.
5. Allow them control
Often science lessons and experiments are controlled by teachers and the textbooks with specific techniques of design, testing, predictions, conclusion etc. This process of building knowledge becomes quite restrained. Along with providing the established knowledge, ideas and skills, students need to be given the opportunity to build knowledge with an open-ended enquiry where they can use their own methods and ideas with the teacher’s guide in addition to controlled lessons. Science teaching should allow the use of one’s own cognitive reasoning and not just let the students follow the same science experiments ditto to someone else’s style and approach.
This is vital in science learning as it enable them to freely discover their unique thinking style which is otherwise inhibited by outside control. For instance, allow them to solve physics assignment in their own logical thinking without having to come to a specific predetermined conclusion, giving them free will to derive their own conclusion.
6. Supply tangible experience for abstract theories
Most students, both children and adult, need to be associated with concrete information to assist with their thinking process in order to fully comprehend abstract theories presented to them.
7. KWL method
Abbreviation for KWL is Know Want Learn. This is where teachers find out what the learners already know about the topic, what they want to learn from it and leads to oriented teaching. Then the students share what new they have learned from the lesson. This enables the teachers to evaluate and let them achieve learning goals.
8. Field trip
Incorporating field trip in science teaching is a great way to let students get a first-hand knowledge from nature itself whereby they can observe and link their studies with their environment.
9. Audiovisual learning aids
Using audiovisual aids such as objects, models, equipments especially in teaching science greatly enhances the learning process.
10. Integrating science technology and cociety
This principle of science is teaching in such a way that shows the interaction of science with technology and the societal needs that can be addressed from it. This enables students to take a more practical approach while learning the skills and concepts of science.
11. Strategies that focus on every aspect
Besides focussing on practical in science teaching such as experiments, lab activities, drills, apparatus, etc. it must also focus on analysing and dealing of information which helps in the decision making of issues that concerns society like – investigatory projects, brainstorming, model construction, establishing and solving problems, etc.
12. Removing the misconception
The teaching tradition where students are made to arrive at a desired conclusion through the use of inductive activities often lead students to develop the idea that science is always efficient and predictable which isn’t always so. Constantly being guided and expected to go by someone else’s ideas also make them subconsciously assume that their ideas are not to be considered but only that of the scientists’. This stops them from tapping into their own potential. Students should be made to understand the nature of science and that established scientific truths became truths only after repeated tests and agreements from other scientists so that they won’t lose confidence when they are corrected.
The need for effective teaching of science has increased in today’s world where the citizens are living by science and technology. The most successful science teaching would be one where the learners don’t just get to know new facts and experiments but also know how to apply them in their life as well as forming a logical mind which can deduce and think scientifically.
