Teaching Chemistry
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Learning is an active process. For effective learning, any new information has to be linked to frameworks of existing information in order to make sense and to produce meaning. This linking is through an active process (active learning) and necessitates a motivation to learn as well as the pre-requisite information to provide the framework for this learning. Different learners will bring with them different mental representations of knowledge and different levels of experience on which to build new links. Different approaches to learning The learning environment and curriculum design can influence the kind of approach students will adopt to their learning. Heavy workload, relatively high levels of contact time, excessive amounts of course materials, no opportunity to study subjects in depth, lack of choice in how and what is studied and anxiety provoking assessment methods will promote a surface approach. Those learners adopting a surface approach passively reproduce course material at a superficial level without evidence of understanding. Instruction-led methodologies can also promote this strategy. However, students adopting a deep approach to their learning demonstrate an intention to transform any new information in a way which is meaningful to them. They take ownership of their learning. Encouraging a deep approach will be dependant on using methods which increase learner motivation by relating new learning experiences to individual needs and prior experience, creating a positive learning environment, enabling a high level of learner activity/participation, providing time for reflection, creating opportunities for interaction with others eg tutors and learners as well as developing a structured relevant knowledge base. [Back to top] Phil Race (1998) emphasises that for learning to take place students must want or need to learn, that they should learning by doing, by getting feedback on their learning and that this process is then consolidated by making sense of what has been learned. New learning then builds again upon this process. To get students involved in doing something, Alsop, S. and Hicks, K. (2001) suggest they might be asked to - initiate their own activities, and take responsibility for their own learning. Techniques to encourage active learning Questioning Questions are an integral part of the learning process. There are different types of questions and they serve different purposes. How can we analyse and use students' questions? What kind of questions do students ask? How can we foster a climate of questioning? Students' questions can help teachers assess the level of students' understanding. Categories of learners' questions An initial classification of students' or learners' questions can be:
Learners' questions show that they are consolidating their thinking on a set of issues; Questions are attempts to sort out conceptual ideas and consolidate understanding of new ideas in science.
Students' questions seek to expand knowledge and test the ideas (constructs) they have formed.
Students' questions seek to reconcile different understandings, resolve conflicts and look at the ideas and their consequences, e.g. "if light travels as fast as it does, then how is it possible to see it?" Fostering a climate of questioning How can teachers cope with students' questions? They can
How can teachers develop classroom strategies, which enable them to treat students' questions seriously? Some suggestions:
Reference: Watts, M.; Gould, G. and Alsop, S. ‘Questions of understanding: categorising pupils'' questions in science.' School Science Review 79 (286) September 1997, 57-63. Giving effective explanations:
do not
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