This document discusses various strategies and methods for teaching science, including: - Teacher-centered strategies like lecturing and demonstrations. - Student-centered strategies like cooperative learning, discussion methods, and individualized instruction. - Inquiry-based methods like hands-on learning, problem-solving approaches, and the 5E model of engaging students in science concepts. - Other techniques mentioned include the play-way method, questioning, and learning in the science laboratory.

1. UNIT # 5
STRATEGIES AND
METHODS
FOR TEACHING SCIENCE
MUHAMMAD ZIA-UL-HAQ ZIA

3. CONTENTS
1.Strategies as Guidelines for Teaching..........
2. Teacher-Centered Strategies....
3. Student-Centered Strategies.....
4. Individualized Strategies...
5. Effective Use of Direct Instruction .
6. Teaching Science by Inquiry ..
7. Problem Solving Method of Teaching.

4. CONTENTS
 8 Hands-on, Minds-on Science Teaching .
 9 Play Way Method
 10 Five-E Model .
 11 Demonstration Method
 12 Questioning Techniques..
 13 Learning in the Science Laboratory.
 14 Some Teaching/Learning Devices

5. 1.STRATEGIES AS GUIDE LINES FOR
TEACHING
Strategy means the art/skill of war. It is the science or
art of planning and directing large
military movements and operations. It is very clear
that the strategy is such planning
which is related to the working system. Although the
word ‘strategy’ is being used with
reference to wars but for the last few years it is also
being used in social planning and
teaching.

6. CONTI…………..
 Strategies provide guide lines for teaching in the
classroom and outside the classroom, and help in
answering the questions:
 1. Why to teach? (Teaching Objectives)
 2.What to teach? (Curriculum):
 3. When to teach? (Time management):
 4. How to teach? (Methodology):
 5. To whom we teach (pupils/ inexperienced
persons)?

7. PIAGET (1969) DIVIDED INTELLECTUAL
DEVELOPMENT INTO FOUR BROAD STAGES
1. The stage of sensory motor intelligence (Aspects of
sensory motor stage: 0-2 years
i. Mainly directed by stimuli outside the mind.
(Stimulus-bound and unable to initiate thought)
ii. Pre-verbal (no language).
iii. Thought proceeds from action.
iv. Learns to perceive and identify objects.

8. CONTI………………….
v. By the end of the period child distinguishes parents,
animals, and knows names.
vi. Rudimentary sense of direction and purpose
appears late in stage.
vii. Time (present-and limited to the duration of their
actions.)
viii. Space (immediate – and is limited to the area in
which children act.)

9. 2.THE STAGE OF PRE-OPERATIONAL THOUGHT
(ASPECT OF PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE: 2-7
YEARS)
i. Performs operations-combining, separating,
grouping, ordering, seriating, multiplying, dividing,
substituting, and reversible thinking.
ii. Analyses.
iii. Aware of variables.
iv. Classifies. (The child develops classification
ability).

10. CONTI………………….
 v. Limited hypotheses are possible.
 vi. Understanding of space and time are greatly
expanded.
 vii. The child develops conservation ability.
 viii. Measures.
 ix. The child develops the ability to apply logical
thought to concrete problem

11. 3.THE STAGE OF CONCRETE OPERATIONS
(ASPECTS OF CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE: 7-
11
YEARS)
i. Performs operations - combining, separating,
grouping, ordering, seriating,
multiplying, dividing, substituting, and reversible
thinking.
ii. Analysis
iii. Aware of variables.
iv. Classifies.
v. Limited hypotheses are possible.
vi. Understanding of space and time are greatly
expanded.
vii. Measure

12. 4.THE STAGE OF FORMAL OPERATION
(FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE: 11-15)
i. Performs hypothetical and prepositional thought.
ii.. The child develops abstract and reflective thinking
(evaluates his thinking process).
iii. Synthesizes.
iv. The child controls variables.
v. Understands probability.
vi. Does ratios, proportions and combinational
logic.
vii. Imagines

13. 2 TEACHER CENTERED (LARGE GROUP)
STRATEGIES
The main focus of teaching is to bring about desirable
change in the behavior of the learners. There are
number of teaching strategies used to achieve the
desired objectives.
Some strategies are for large group (e.g. lecturing)
and some are for small group (e.g. discussion,
cooperative and collaborative learning)

14. PRESENTATION (LECTURES)
Lecturing some time called presentation teaching and
generally described as teacher centered teaching
strategy involving one way procedure. Lecturing is a
formal discourse between an experienced person and
comparatively inexperienced persons.

15. CONTI…………………………
Some of the characteristics of experienced person
are depth of knowledge in a subject, ability to expose
and explain the concepts in a coherent manner, use
of apt language, wit and
humour, skill of drawing the attention of the
students/pupils/audience, etc.

16. PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF LECTURING
The lecturing in its pure form is one way
communication and if learning has to take
place, it ought to be an active. The learners should
meaningfully react to the stimuli
of the teacher’s teaching so that learning takes place.
The teacher should be aware of the need of the
students and the variety of the
techniques and tactics he can adopt to suit to different
subjects and students’ need.

17. CONTI………….
The teacher’s concern should be the learning
rather than teaching.
In lecturing the information is given through
auditory medium. This information is
converted into schemas (mental images) in the
students’ mind. The teacher should,
therefore, give pause to build these mental images

18. CONTI………………………
 The language used by the teacher should be
according to the cognitive level of the students.
 Teacher must present the summary of the lecture
(lesson) on the board.
 If the lecture is linger on it begins to be boring, so
the teacher should keep up the interest by providing
some humorous comments.

19. 3.STUDENT-CENTERED STRATEGIES
Lesson organized around teacher-centered models are
generally characterized by task structures by which
teacher work mainly with the whole class or the students
work individually to master academic content. These goal
and reward structures are mostly
based on individual competition and effort. In contrast, in
student-centered strategies, the
major focus is on the social aspect instead of individual
tasks.

20. A) COOPERATIVE LEARNING
The cooperative learning strategy is characterized by
cooperative task, goal, and reward structures.
Students are encouraged to complete the task with
their cooperation and coordination with one another.
The cooperative learning environment sets the stage
for students to learn very valuable collaboration and
social skills that they will use
throughout their lives.

21. CONTI………………….
The learning outcomes
(the three instructional goals) of cooperative learning
are:
1. Academic achievement;
2. Tolerance and acceptance of diversity; and
3. Development of social skills

22. COOPERATIVE LEARNING LESSONS CAN BE
CHARACTERIZED BY THE FOLLOWING
FEATURES:
Students work in teams to master learning goals;
Teams are made up of high, average, and low
achieving students;
Whenever possible, teams include a racial, cultural,
and gender mix;
Reward systems are oriented to the group as well
as the individual.

23. PHASES/STEPS INVOLVED IN COOPERATIVE
LEARNING
1. The lesson begins with the teacher going over the
goals of the lesson and get students to learn;
2. This phase is followed by the presentation of
information, often in the form of text rather than
lecture;
3. Students are then organized into study teams;

24. CONTI………………..
4. In this step, students assisted by the teacher, work
together to accomplish interdependent tasks;
5. This phase includes presentation of the group’s
end product or testing on what students have learned;
and
6. Recognition of group and individual efforts

25. 2 DISCUSSION AS STUDENT CENTERED
(SMALL GROUP) STRATEGIES
It is a process in which a small group (from 5-10
students) assembles to communicate with each other
by using speaking, listening and non-verbal
communication in order to achieve predetermined
instructional objectives.

26. THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THIS STRATEGY
ARE AS UNDER
The discussion occurs in small groups;
The group member perform two roles:
1. As leader/moderator (mostly the teacher)
2. Participants (students)
Group members have different influence over one
another therefore learning of
each student is affected/influenced by the other

27. CONTI………………………
Participant use the available time to communicate
with each other;
Group members communicate by speaking, hand
gestures, and facial expressions
while other receive by listening and by seeing;
The processes of speaking, listening, observing are
the features of this strategy.

28. TECHNIQUES OF LEADING DISCUSSION
The teacher must relate the discussion with the
objective.
Teacher may also pause during his small lecture
and invite questions on some important topics.
He may also use questioning technique (what is
your opinion about the issue/problem? What do you
think about this reason? )
Pose questions about the missing links.
Throw the question to the students and inviting
their opinion.

29. DRAWBACKS OF DISCUSSION
Students often distract from the main issue of
discussion.
Topic may not be interested by the students.
Low motivational level of the participant.
There may be some angry remarks by some
students.

30. CONTI………………….
There may be low participation or over participation
or complete withdrawal of the
students from the discussion.
If the teacher has no command or have little
knowledge about the issue/problem,
misconception may occur.

31. 4 INDIVIDUALIZED STRATEGIES
Individualization becomes significant when there are
students from different backgrounds and varying
abilities.
There are three basic techniques for individualization:
i. Individualized instruction
ii. Independent study
iii. Mastery learning

32. I. INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION
Individualized instruction can take several forms.
Ideally in individualized instruction, students are
engaged in learning tasks according to their interests,
needs and abilities.
Accordingly, teachers might vary one or more of the
following:
1. The learning pace
2. The instructional objectives
3. The learning method
4. The learning materials

33. 1. THE LEARNING PACE
All students do not learn at the same pace. Some
students need more time to attain understanding.
Hence, one and simplest methods to individualize
instruction is that of permitting students to work on
the same assignments at their own pace.

34. CONTI……
 2. The Instructional Objectives
Another technique that can be used for individualized
instruction is varying objectives
3. The Learning Method
Vary the method used in accomplishing the desired
outcome is also one of the individualization techniques.
Even when students are working on the same
outcomes, they can use different means of achieving
mastery

35. CONTI…………
 4. The Learning Material
Varying the materials used to accomplish objectives
can also lead to individualized
instruction. As just noted, textbooks can be used in
individualized instruction. Some students, however,
may read at lower reading levels than their
classmates.

36. 5 EFFECTIVE USE OF DIRECT INSTRUCTION
The terms direct instruction or explicit instruction
usually refer to whole-class expository
teaching techniques (sometimes less flatteringly
called “chalk and talk”). Common forms of direct
instruction include lectures and demonstrations. They
are teacher-centered approaches in which the
teacher delivers academic content in a highly
structured format, directing the activities of learners
and maintaining a focus on academic achievement

37. DIRECT INSTRUCTION HAS THE FOLLOWING
IMPORTANT FEATURES:
1. The learning outcomes are clear to students.
2. The teacher controls the time for various
instructional activities.
3. The teacher organizes and controls the sequencing
of lesson activities.
4. There is an emphasis on academic achievement.
5. The teacher carefully monitors students.
6. Feedback to students is academically oriented.

38. CONTI………………..
Direct instruction is a teacher-centered strategy that
has five steps.
1.Establishing set,
(2) explanation and/or demonstration
(3) guided practice,
(4) feedback, and
(5) extended practice.

39. 6 TEACHING SCIENCE BY INQUIRY
Scientific Inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which
scientists study the natural world
and propose explanations based on the evidence
derived from their work. Inquiry also refers to the
activities of students in which they develop
knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as
well as an understanding of how scientists study the
natural world.

40. 7.PROBLEM SOLVING METHOD OF TEACHING
In school and college students learn concepts, rules,
principles and laws. These learning rules and
principles help them to learn higher order rules and
principles in future.
Learning rules and principles help in solving problems
(e.g. principle of lever help us to
solve the problem of lifting heavy load with the
minimum effort.

41. STEPS IN PROBLEM SOLVING
There are many view point regarding the steps of
problem solving. But the major steps are:
.A felt need; the problem solver must feel the difficulty
and speculate the probable solution.
Locating /recognizing/defining the problem; after the
difficulty is felt, the next step is to locate or
understand the nature of the problem.
Data collection; gathering data to solve a problem is
not an easy job. The teacher must instill in students a
respect for factual knowledge

42. CONTI…………………
Formulation of hypothesis; a hypothesis is simply a
theory or a tentative/possible solution. The worth of
the possible solutions depends on the originality and
intelligence of the problem solver.
Testing of hypothesis; after some tentative solutions
are accepted, the pupils can
be asked to try or test the possible solutions and their
consequences.
Making a generalization; testing the hypothesis is
often the final step in the solution of the problem.
However, higher form of reasoning demand stills
another step-making a generalization

43. TEACHING PROBLEM SOLVING IN SCHOOL
a) Acquisition of knowledge of wide applicability;
b) Learning and using the techniques of problem
solving.
c) Learning and transfer of skills, concepts, principles
etc
d) Development of the ability to transfer the skills
acquired through problem solving
in schools to the solution of personal and
community/societal problems

44. 8 HANDS–ON, MINDS –ON SCIENCE
TEACHING
Hands-On: Students are actually allowed to
perform science as they construct meaning and
acquire understanding.
Minds-On: Activities focus on core concepts,
allowing students to develop thinking processes and
encouraging them to question and seek answers that
enhance their knowledge and thereby acquire an
understanding of the physical
universe in which they live.

45. CONTI……………………..
Their vision builds on these beliefs:
Thinking skills, especially higher-order skills, must
be learned through practice.
A curriculum based on constructivist theory is well-
suited to the teaching and learning of science.
Learning assessment must be built into the process
of instruction.
All students should have access to meaningful,
engaged learning in science

46. STUDENTS:
Take advantage of every opportunity presented to
engage in the process of "doing“ science.
Develop the skills needed to seek information and
solve problems.
Keep an open and questioning mind, and
constantly seek new knowledge and
understanding.
Learn to work with others,

47. TEACHERS
Commit to a professional development program
that will enable you to change instructional strategies,
adapting them to new methods for teaching
 Create more opportunities for students to engage in
science learning that is
authentic and patterned after the methods that
scientists use.

48. CONTI…………
 Model attitudes that foster inquiry, acquisition of
new knowledge, and lifelong learning.
Seek ways to relate the learning of science to other
disciplines and use technology to enhance and
extend classroom experiences.

49. 9 PLAY-WAY METHOD
Play is the natural need of the child. Through play
he/she enacts many roles of the adults of his world as
he/she sees them; the child cast himself in those
roles with which he seeks identification. The child’s
choice for play is selective and carries emotional
attachment.
The emotions may be positive one of love, or a
negative one of fear/anger.

50. PRINCIPLES OF PLAY-WAY METHOD
1. Learning process to be conducted through playful
activities because they are soothing, purifying and
interesting;
2. Learning should be taken place in an atmosphere of
freedom without any restraints (act of controlling).
3. Method of imparting should be informal and natural to
suit the interests and needs of children.
4. Teachers’ attitude should be such as to encourage free
expression on the part of the pupils.

51. 10 FIVE-E MODEL (ENGAGE, EXPLORE,
EXPLAIN, ELABORATE, EVALUATE)
5E Model of teaching science helps to promote
Active, Collaborative, Inquiry-Based Learning.
Engage: learners become interested, raise questions,
and focus attention on target concepts.
Explore: learners interact with materials and each
other.
Explain: learners develop explanations that represent
their understandings of target concepts.
Elaborate: Learners apply understandings to a new
situation.
Evaluate: Learners review and assess what they
have learned and how they have

52. 11 DEMONSTRATION METHOD
In science instruction, demonstration can be very
effective teaching strategy. It provides
excellent ways to introduce science units and
lessons. Demonstrations are concrete
experiences that can be considered advance
organizers for structuring subsequent
information and activities into a meaningful,
instructional framework for students.
Effective demonstrations can focus student’s
attention, motivate and interest them in
lesson, illustrate key concepts and principles and
initiate inquiry and problem solving.

53. 12 QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES
The following are the reasons for which teachers ask
questions:
i. To assess the previous knowledge of students
ii. To summarize lesson
iii. To asses achievement of objectives
iv. To motivate the students
v. To develop the interest of students
vi. To develop critical thinking skills
vii. To evaluate students’ preparation
viii. To have check on homework

54. 13 LEARNING IN THE SCIENCE LABORATORY
There is a Chinese proverb;
 I hear and I forget,
 I see and I remember,
 I do and I understand

55. OBJECTIVES OF LABORATORY WORK
The main objectives of laboratory work are:
a. Create interest in science;
b. Verify facts taught in theory classes;
c. Develop the habit of doing independent work
among students;
d. Prepare students for higher studies and science
careers;
e. Develop skills in handling specific science
apparatus and equipment.
f. Improve observation and critical thinking;
g. Develop the habit of reasoning;

56. 14 SOME TEACHING/LEARNING DEVICES
Concept Mapping
Concepts are an invention of the human mind, ways
of organizing the world. A concepts
map is thus a semantic network showing the
relationships among concepts in a
hierarchical fashion. Concepts or ideas are linked
with phrases that illustrate the
relationships among them

57. V-DIAGRAM
One of the criticisms of laboratory work is that the
emphasis is usually on the methodological aspects of
the exercise. Thus, even if the exercise is well
designed, and the students produce a set of results or
observations, these are not readily related back in a
meaningful way to the conceptual framework that
underpins the experimental work.
The experimental results are isolated from theory, and
the experiments can appear to be
trivial and out of a scientific context