Sci 224: The Teaching of

Science

MODULE 3

Lesson 1: EFFECTIVE SCIENCE TEACHING

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the module, the students must have:
1. Discussed what is effective science teaching
2. Described an effective science teacher
3. Appreciated the importance of boosting students’ self-esteem to be an effective teacher

CONTENT

IDENTIFYING EFFECTIVE TEACHING

To describe what effective teachers do in the classroom, Levine and Ornstein have reviewed 10 years
of research and hundreds of research studies. The research reviewed deals primarily with low-achieving
students in inner-city schools, but it applies to many other student types and many grade levels and subjects.
1. Classroom Management. Effective teachers develop good managerial techniques. They make
sure students know what they expect; they make certain that students know what to do if they
need help; they follow through with reminders and rewards to enforce rules; and they do not
respond to discipline problems emotionally.
2. Direct Instruction. Effective teachers have a clear, systematic method of teaching, called direct
instruction or explicit teaching. They proceed in small steps, provide ample review and explanation
before proceeding to the next step, ask questions and check for understanding, and provide
systematic feedback and correction.
3. Time on task. Effective teacher provides students with relevant academic activities and see to it
that students spend an adequate amount of time actually engaged in these learning activities.
4. Questioning. Effective teachers ask appropriate questions in a manner that ensures participation
and facilitates mastery of academic content. Questioning focuses on both facts and abstract
thinking.
5. Comprehension Instruction. Effective teachers emphasize independent learning and learning to
learn. They teach students to apply concepts, solve problems, and monitor their own
comprehension.
6. Level of Cognitive Instruction. Most instruction for low-achieving students emphasizes
mechanical rote learning. Effective teachers try to move toward high-order thinking skills and
indepe

1
 THE EFFECTIVE SCIENCE TEACHER: WHO ARE YOU?

As a [science] teacher, you will have a special role in bridging the gap between the different world of
science and scientists and the world of students in middle/junior and high schools. Are there characteristics
common to teachers who do this effectively? There are two sources of information that will help us with this
question. One is the result of the effective teaching research over the past twenty-five years, and the other comes
from the insight and wisdom if-you-will of outstanding secondary teachers.

Effective Teachers

In recent years, researchers have investigated the relationship between teacher behavior (strategies
and methods of instruction) and student performance (conceptual learning, attitudes). Through a technique in
which a large number of research studies are synthesized, researchers have found clusters of instructional
strategies and methods that are related to increased cognitive outcomes. At this stage in your study of science
teaching, I assume that you have not mastered these behaviors. Instead, these characteristics will be viewed as
advance organizers for our study of effective science teaching. The lists (Figures 1.19 and 1.19a) that follow have
been paraphrased from Hofwolt and Borich.

Individual teachers will vary considerably in their style, and in the specific strategies they use to help
students come to enjoy and learn science. However, there appears to be a clustering of broad patterns of teacher
behaviors that effective teachers employ. Here are two sets of behaviors, shown side-by-side, one that appears
to characterize secondary teachers in general, and the other that is more specific to secondary science teachers.

Effective Teachers: What Strategies Do They Use?

1. Clarity: Their presentation to the class is clear and understandable. Initial explanations are clear,
logical and easy to follow.

2. Variety: Teachers who show variety use a variety of behaviors to reinforce students, ask many and a
variety of questions, use a variety of learning materials, equipment, displays---in short, hands-on
materials.

3. Task Orientation: Teachers who spend more time on intellectual content rather than on procedures or
classroom rules tend to have higher rates of achievement.

4. On-Task Behavior: This refers to the amount of time that students are actually on-tasks engaged with
learning materials and activities. On-task behavior is closely related to classroom management
behaviors of the teacher.
5. Success Rate: This characteristic is closely related to student self-esteem. Naturally, if students are
succeeding a moderate-to-high rates, then students are going to feel good about themselves as
science learners and have positive attitudes about science. A key behavior here is the teachers’ ability
to design learning tasks that lead to high success rates, but are not dull or repetitive, or viewed as a
waste of time

6. Using Student Ideas: acknowledging, modifying, applying, comparing, and summarizing student's
comments can contribute to a positive learning environment. Teachers who use student ideas are
genuinely interacting with students, thereby effecting student self-esteem.

7. Instructional Set: This refers to teacher statements made at the beginning of a lesson, or at transition
points in the lesson that help the students organize what is to come or what has happened before.

8. Questioning: Teachers can and do ask a variety of questions. Knowing what kinds and when to ask
questions seems to be important to student learning. Related to questioning is the behavior of 'wait
time' which refers to the amount of time teachers wait after asking students a question

2
 9. Enthusiasm: This humanistic behavior refers to the teacher's vigor, power, involvement, excitement,
and interest during a class presentation. Enthusiasm manifests itself by the teachers use of eye
contact, gesturing, movement, use of supportive and approval behaviors, variety of teaching
techniques, and love of science

Here in brief are Wigginton's (one of the best-known high school teachers from Georgia) overarching truths
about teaching.

Wholistic View of Subject Matter. This is the characteristic that tends to get students to recall their memorable
teachers. "They made the subject come alive," or She really loved her subject," are some of things students
remember about outstanding teachers. Wigginton claims that effective teachers see the interdependence of their
own discipline with all others. They see their subject whole. They are the science teachers who see instantly
every major science related news event. Or as he says, carpet dyes and gymnasium floor waxes and cans of
beer become subjects of chemical analysis, and the first spring flowers become targets of botanical scrutiny.
These teachers help students relate their subject matter to the whole world, and he goes as far to say that if there
is no way to help students make linkages between this course and the whole world, and relate them to the
students' lives, then the course should not be offered at all.

Know How Learning Takes Place. According to Wigginton, the effective teacher understands how learning
takes place, knows how to apply the principles of learning, and believes that all students can learn. To Wigginton,
this last notion is at the heart of the teaching profession. Teachers who know how learning takes place understand
motivation in learning. They have moved away from extrinsic motives (candy, grades, a prize) toward intrinsic
motives (natural curiosity, desire for competence and mastery). They help students make connections between
the information they are to learn and their own world. These teachers also know that learning takes place by
doing, and that learning begins with meaningful experiences and then moves to the text or the teacher, and then
on to evaluation, analysis, reflection, and a return to meaningful, hands-on experiences.

Know Their Students. Wigginton feels that effective teachers try to bring education and the lives of students
together by getting to know them better. He points out that is a tricky area, because many teachers feel distance
should be kept from students---and perhaps students may not want to know us. However, Wigginton believes that
in order to make instruction and the curriculum relevant to the students, it goes without saying, that educators
must know their students. He says, for example, "when I know students reasonably well, I know the extent of the
demands I can make upon them; I know something about their talents and abilities and likes and dislike, and thus
I can lead them into educational activities with reasonable hope of success."

Make Careful Assumptions. The central idea here is very simple: the best teachers never make negative
assumptions about the potential of their students. Wigginton says that too often, the disease model of education
is at play, wherein the student is viewed as defective, and it is the job of schools and teachers to fix them. This is
in stark contrast to his view that students have a variety of strengths and abilities, and it the the job of the school
and teachers to take advantage of them, and in the process turn areas of weakness around. As Wigginton says,
we make cripples of students on the basis of assumptions we make about them. As a future science teacher, this
is especially crucial given the negative attitudes that prevail among students toward science. The evidence from
research studies (especially the famous Pygmalion effect study by Robert Rosenthal) suggests that students who
receive attention, have higher goals set for them, and even more demands, often do advance academically.
Students who we establish low expectations for, give less attention, do not advance academically. Teachers'
attitudes and the assumptions they make about students can play as important a role in cognitive learning as all
the methods, strategies and materials of teaching that we use.

Understand the Role of Self-esteem. Effective teachers know that how students feel about themselves foretells
how they perceive, react to, and perform in the world. Self-esteem is especially important in science teaching,
again, because of the negative connotations students have toward the study of science. One of the best remedies,
and effective teachers know this, is to plan learning experiences that lead to student success, that build upon the
student's dignity and self-worth.

Wigginton explores other characteristics of effective teachers. He suggests that these teachers also recognize
their humanness, understand the nature of discipline and control, help students analyze and react to other adults,
constantly engage in professional growth activities, and know how to avoid teacher burnout.

3
As you continue with your study of science teaching, come back to these characteristics---those resulting from
the science of research, and the wisdom-of-practice.

https://www.jackhassard.org/mos/1.11.html#:~:text=According%20to%20Wigginton%2C%20the%20effective,that%20all%20students%20can%20learn.&t
ext=They%20help%20students%20make%20connections,learn%20and%20their%20own%20world.