The document discusses the individual laboratory method as an approach to science education, emphasizing hands-on experimentation to facilitate learning through discovery and inquiry. It outlines the objectives, advantages, organization of practical work, and the characteristics of true experiments, highlighting the importance of individual participation and critical thinking in scientific exploration. Despite the challenges in maintaining a balance between theory and practice, it recommends strategies for effective practical work in the classroom.

1. Individual laboratory
Method
By
Dr. I. Uma Maheswari
iuma_maheswari@yahoo.co.in

2. Individual laboratory Method
• Overview:
• The discovery approach in teaching
science is the result of applying
psychological principles in the teaching of
Computer Science.
• There are quite a few methods, which
have accepted teaching through discovery
or inquiry approach.

3. • The individual laboratory method is
one such approach for teaching
science.
• Although in ideal sense, the student
is required to choose a laboratory
problem, and follow the steps of
scientific method for solving the
problem, in practice it is rarely the
case.

4. Objectives
1. List the advantages of laboratory
method of teaching.
2. Organise practical work for a
class by drawing a schedule of
activities for a standard.
3. Prepare suitable instructions for
the experiments.

5. 4. Conveniently group the students for
practical work and draw a suitable
schedule for supervision.
5. Guide the students in the preparation of
their observation and fair records.
6. Suitably guide the science talented in
the open-ended experimental work.
7. Identify the various errors that are likely
to occur in experimental work.
8. List a few investigational projects.

6. Introduction
• Science is doing.
• The laboratory is the scientist’s
workshop.
• Much reading and discussion are
essential in science work; but it is in the
laboratory that hypotheses are tested.

7. • Nature is a hard master and reveals
her secret only to those who are
patient and careful, persistent to
the point of obstinacy and willing to
spend time and energy without
reckoning the cost.
• The experimental method insists on
students conducting experiment
and arriving at their own inferences
under the guidance of the teacher.

8. • In this method, each pupil is
provided with separate apparatus to
perform experiments at his desk in
the laboratory.
• They may be provided with manuals
containing detailed instructions of
procedure regarding the
experiments to be performed.

9. • The teacher offers guidance only
wherever necessary.
• While solving problems, the individuals
mostly follow the scientific method.
• The application of the various steps of
the scientific method in solving the
problems in the laboratory has been
chiefly responsible for the growth of
science over the centuries.

10. • It is therefore very important that
practical work should centuries.
• It is therefore very important that
practical work should form an
integral part of any scientific
programme in school science.

11. Advantages of Laboratory
Method
1. ‘Learning by doing’ is an important
educational maximum in
education theory.
The things learnt by the students
through direct, purposeful activity
are permanently retained in the
minds of pupils

12. 2. Students have an opportunity to
manipulate the scientific
apparatus and collect data by
careful observation.
• This affords opportunities for the
children to develop the
construction skill, organisational
skill, manipulative skill,
communication skill, etc.

13. 3. While solving problems in science
in a laboratory, students generally
follow the various steps in the
scientific method.
Hence the experimental technique
of learning science is a valuable
asset for imparting training in
scientific method.

14. 4. Experimentation in the true sense
involves high-level thinking.
Open-ended experiments enable
the students to clearly define the
problems and suggest the methods
of attack.
“Science is not memory or magic
but rather a disciplined form of
human curiosity”.

15. 5. Experimental method develops
certain specific abilities in the
students perceiving a problem,
relating the problem to previous
experiences, formulating
hypotheses, deriving conclusion
and applying generalisations are
broadly the specific abilities.

16. 6. Practical work instils certain good
traits in children.
Habits like co-operation,
resourcefulness, initiative, and
patience, suspending the
judgment until valid evidences are
collected, careful observation are
some of the desirable habits.

17. Nature of Experiments
• Experiments range from the simple
activities to exceedingly complicated
activities.
• From the teaching stand point of view,
simple experiments are enough in lower
standards.
• Although the steps of the scientific
method are all involved in solving
problems of complicated nature, in
schools many of the experiments need
only a few steps.

18. • A simple problem like ‘what
happens when iron filings are
brought near a magnet?’ involves
only a few steps like
(i) Statement of a problem
(ii) Single trail
(ii) A conclusion.
• In some of other experiments, we
may need to repeat the experiment
a few more times till we get
concurrent results.

19. Experiment or Exercise
• There is much evidence which indicates
that youngster’s become interested in
science early in life, but lose much of
enthusiasm by the time they enter the
high schools or college.
• Their interest gets stifled when they are
asked to repeat the dull, routine,
stereotyped experiments several times
until they get the correct result as
enunciated by the prepared tables or the
teacher.

20. • In a sense, experiments like
verification of Inference law,
verification of the Associative laws,
verification of Distribution Law,
verification of the laws of
equivalence, verification of Ohm’s
law etc cannot be called as true
experiments.

21. • A true experiment is one in which
the result is not known in advance.
• But in all the types of experiments
mentioned above, the students are
asked to verify the results already
established beyond doubt.
• Hence these should not be elevated
to the rank of experiment but
should be called mere exercises.

22. • There is no thrill or excitement in
doing these verification exercises.
• Research has proved that free
experimentation results in many
valid discoveries while flow chart
discussions tend to focus the
discoveries.

23. Controlled Experiments
• Experimental type of investigation is often
characterised by what is called “controlled
experiment”.
• In the controlled experiment, every effort
is made to control the factors involved.
• All variables except two are kept as nearly
constant as possible the relationship
between the two is studied by varying one
and studying the effect on the other.

24. • Sometimes two parallel experiments
are set up so that comparisons can
be made after treatment. One of the
two experiments is often called the
‘control’ or ‘check’ and the other is
called ‘natural’ group.
• The effect of the dependent variable
on the independent variable, which
is manipulated, is studied and
logical conclusions are drawn.

25. How to organise practical work?
• In order to make the practical work
fruitful, the science teacher should
always plan his work carefully and
according to schedule. Only in this
respect, the science teacher has
more responsibilities.

26. • There are two ways in which
practical work can be organised.
• One type of organisation is called
the ‘Even front system’ in which all
the children in the class do the
same identical experiment during
the particular time.

27. • If you want to organise practical work in
this way, you need a lot of equipments of
the identical type, which means heavy
cost of maintaining the laboratory.
• But there are specific advantages.
• These can be proper co-ordination
between theoretical and practical work.

28. • Supervision is also easy as the
difficulties met with by the students
would almost be the same.
• The other common method of
organising practical work is the
‘Group Rotation System’.
• In this method, students are divided
into convenient small batches.

29. • About six to eight different
experiments in the curriculum can
be planned for a single cycle.
Students will be asked to perform
the cycle by rotation.
• When all the students have
completed all the experiments in the
cycle, the next cycle of experiments
will be planned.

30. • Although this method of
organisation is economical, the
difficulty lies in the fact that there is
often no co-ordination between
theory and practical.
• As the students will be doing
different experiments, it is difficult
for the teacher to give common
instructions.

31. • Supervision also becomes more
difficult as the teacher has to attend
to the needs of different groups
simultaneously.
• However this difficulty can be
minimised to a certain extent by
providing suitable instructions in
the form of a printed manual or a
card.

32. The following general principles may also be
borne in mind by the teachers while
organising practical work.
1.Experiments should enable the pupils to
think instead of repeating the dull exercise.
2.The purpose of the experiment should be
made very clear to the pupils.
‘What they are to find and how’ must be
explicitly stated.

33. It is enough the broad outlines are stated
for procedure.
Simple apparatus, which can be easily
arranged, can be made use of.
3. If unexpected results or wrong results
are obtained, the students may be
asked to review the work and see where
the errors are likely to creep in.

34. Students must even be trained to see
which part of the experimental data
will affect the result much, so that
while taking such measurements
they can be asked to be more careful
1.All the equipments needed for doing
the cycle of experiment must be kept
ready even before the boys assemble
for practical work.

35. 2. If the apparatus is sensitive in nature, if
the chemicals used are poisonous or if the
experiment involves some danger,
students must be suitably cautioned even
in the beginning.
3.It is always better to prepare suitable
instruction cards for guidance of pupils in
high or higher secondary schools instead
of depending on printed laboratory
manuals.

36. 4.The teacher should perform the
laboratory activities before giving them to
the class for practical work. The teacher
will be able to find out the difficulties
with the activity and find ways to
overcome them.
5.A discussion should be held at the
conclusion of laboratory activity to focus
upon observations made by children
during the activities. This will help to
review the work for fixing the ideas.

37. Grouping of pupils
• Individual work by the pupil is always
preferable to working in groups.
• But for economy, students are grouped
in twos and threes for performing an
experiment.
• In such circumstances, it is always better
to combine a bright student with a
slightly average student.

38. • Sometimes it may so happen that
the bright boy may dominate the
other and would not help the other
student.
• By proper supervision, this defect
can be remedied.