PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING IN SCIENCE

MAINA BORO (ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, SCIENCE)

Science and technology are playing an important role in our lives. They have become an integral part of our social and cultural life. Various activities are controlled and governed by science.Science education equips students with the knowledge and skills to navigate and thrive in a technology-driven world. Teaching is a process that facilitates learning. Effective teaching is based on some important principles. These principles act as a guiding force to make the teaching-learning process effective. Here some general principles of teaching science are- • Principle of direction: A principle of goals and objectives is the most important principle of teaching because objectives give direction to our teaching. It states the purpose and tells what the learner will be able to do after these teaching acts. • Principle of Learning by Doing: This principle states that self-learning is the best way to learn. Teachers must opt for engaging and self-activities to enhance the learning outcome. • Principle of interest and linking with life: By generating interest among the learners, the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process can be increased. This interest can be created by giving real-life examples and situations to students while learning. • Principle of making provision for individual differences: Every student is unique in terms of intelligence, abilities, attitudes and socio-economic background. Every child is different from each other. The teacher should keep in mind individual differences while teaching. • Principle of selection: The scope of knowledge is expanding every single day. The teacher should be able to pick contents that can be relevant, concise and updated to the learners’ objectives. • Principle of planning: Every teacher has certain time-bound objectives, and hence teaching should be systematic, to make optimum use of resources within the time limit. Planning includes lesson plans, teaching aids, strategies and methods of teaching. • Principle of creation and recreation: This principle is a must to make the classroom environment more conducive to humour and creativity. • Principle of division and revision: To make learning easier, the subject matter should be divided into such units and there should be a link between the units. So that learners can understand easily. But for enduring that knowledge revision is needed. • Principle of active participation and involvement: teaching and learning must be child centeredness so that children can actively participate in learning. It helps in developing self-confidence among the learners. Some psychological principles should be followed by the teachers. These are as follows- • Principle of Readiness: This principle state that a teacher should pain he is on her instructions on teaching as per the psychological and mental level of the people. He or she should keep in mind the majority level of the student to understand the concept in a better way. • Principle of Attention: To be successful in the teaching-learning process a teacher should use appropriate stimulus variation to fetch the attention of the student. This wholly depends on interest. Hence, a teacher should try to identify the interest of the students in order to set attention and have a better learning outcome. • Principle of Motivation: Motivation helps children to learn in a better way. When a child is motivated during the learning process, half of the battle is won. Hence, a teacher should create a situation via which a sense of motivation and interest can be inculcated among students. • Principle of Group Dynamics: Teachers should follow diverse methods of teaching. Understanding group dynamics can help a teacher to synergise the efforts of students in a better way. The project method is an appropriate method for inculcating desirable group behaviour among students. It produces a democratic climate in the classroom. • Principle of multi-sensory approach: It has been evident from past research that using the multi-sensory approach in teaching better learning outcomes can be generated. A teacher should focus on using different teaching aids like projectors, Motion Pictures, printed materials and audio aid than simple blackboard teaching to make learning interesting. • Principle of Tolerance, Cooperation and Praise: In order to create a good socio-emotional environment in the class a teacher must use the principle of praise cooperation. There is a need to appreciate the feelings and ideas of the students. A good teacher needs to be tolerant towards the students’ responses. Hence, effective teaching is based on some well-defined principles. Understanding the principles of teaching can make the teaching-learning process effective through diverse instructions and teaching aids. They help teachers to work on a student-centered approach to teaching.

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