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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 8, Issue 1, Article
12 (June, 2007) SITI HENDON Sheikh Abdullah & KHALIJAH Mohd Salleh Science teaching for enlightenment: A holistic approach in developing a teacher's guide for best practices to teach at secondary level |
The Conceptual Framework
This section gives a description of the conceptual framework of the holistic approach for best practices model (HOBP Model). The framework gives us the guide for the study to be conducted. It focuses on the elements integrated for the construction of the model. The three elements are: teaching-learning (TL) issues, elements of the TL process that include the best practices and the teacher’s guide (Figure 1). The best practices take into consideration four factors that affect teaching and learning as shown in Figure 1. They are: (i) the teaching-learning issues and problems; (ii) the two levels of teaching learning process: communication by the teacher and management of information by the student; (iii) the content and; (iv) the resource materials.
Figure 1 Conceptual framework of the holistic approach to best practices in teaching-learning
The conceptual framework for best teaching practices in teaching is summarized in Figure 1. This conceptual framework provides us with a working model (HOBP Model) for in the development of TGTL.
(i) Teaching Learning Issues and Problems
Teaching-learning problems and issues in this paper are with reference to the teachers’ and students’ perspectives. The main issues for the teachers are their content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. For the students, preconceptions, psycho emotion and cognitive ability are issues that we believe contribute to learning.Information on teaching-learning issues and problems were gathered from (1) teachers’ interview (3 teachers) and survey (40 teachers); and (2) Malaysian students’ misconceptions (Siti Hendon, 2003). Initially, an interview protocol was prepared based on the literature. Then each of the teachers was interviewed to find their general problems in teaching-learning and suggested solutions to the problems. Based on the findings of the interview, an open ended survey instrument was developed and a written survey was conducted to 40 in-service science teachers.
The main issue of teaching found is that teachers do not have enough time to spend on activities that can provoke their students’ interest and understanding. Feedback from private interviews imply that teachers felt the most effective method for students to learn and apply a new concept is to engage them in hands-on, collaborative activities. However there is always a time constraint. The teachers also raised other problems like students’ passive participation, and insufficient apparatus for lab activities.
(ii) Levels of Teaching Learning Process
The teaching learning process is actually a social activity. The student- teacher relationship is determined by the communication interaction between them. We need to realize that the actual teaching and learning process in the classroom occurs at two levels, (i) the communication of information by the teacher to the students and ii) the management of information by the students. The latter requires that students have the necessary internal cognitive mechanism in order to affect the actual process of learning. It is the authors’ intention to approach the teaching learning process in a holistic manner. This therefore means that these two levels of teaching learning process have to be incorporated in the teaching model.Communication of Information
In the teaching-learning process, communication plays an important role in the transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the students. The holistic approach considers teaching as a social activity. This means that it involves both the teacher and the students. It is therefore important that a two-way communication exists between the teacher and students in order to trigger learning. Communication in this paper refers to teacher’s behavior, good relationship between teacher and learners and communication styles. Studies have shown that these elements when considered can lead to effective teaching and learning (Beebe, 1994). Further direct communication between a teacher and students allows the teacher to get immediate feedback that can help the teacher gauge the students' understanding on what has been taught. This in turn can guide the teachers to refine the art of communication that helps students to the correct concepts of the topic being taught. With proper guidance, the teacher could bring the students to a higher learning development compared to the students’ development without a teacher’s guidance (Vygotsky, 1930).Information refers to sensation of messages which the mind concentrates upon (Kehoe, 1999).These messages have to be organized before it becomes knowledge for the individual. Due to the high level of abstraction in physics (Renner and Grant, 1978), knowledge is rarely developed spontaneously but requires instruction for its development. Only then can the students select the important information as the class is being held instead of concentrating on something that is not relevant to the lesson (Kehoe, 1999). Teachers using concrete models and analogies during instruction can do this, as these will help the students encode relevant information for better understanding.
(iii) Content
The content referred to in the HOBP Model is based on the Malaysian secondary school syllabus (Ministry of Education, 2004). This is to ensure that the content is parallel to the school physics syllabus. For the intended study the content is focused on the topic of light. The topics on light will cover the basic concepts and properties of light; light propagation, reflection and refraction. Since the HOBP Model is holistic, teachers are expected to integrate both their content knowledge of the topic with the pedagogy for teaching. This means that they should not only emphasize the content but to also make sure that their students achieve the in-depth understanding of the concepts that they are teaching. Only then can their teaching be expected to produce a lasting effect in the minds of their students, rather than students’ forgetting what have been taught once the class is over.
(iv) Resource Materials
In this paper, resource materials refer to two supporting materials for interactive science teaching and learning (Hake, 1998); resources for (1) experimental work and (2) computer aided learning (CAL).
Experimental work
Experimental work is one factor that stimulates learning. Experimental work using inquiry, hands on approach stimulates natural curiosity. This will at the same time provides them with a solid conceptual framework needed to support the development of accurate concepts and achieve other learning objectives such as theory building (AGPA, 2005). Besides, by doing experiments students are usually spontaneously evoked to explain things that they experience. It is known that absence of experiential examples leads to shallow knowledge (or, in many cases, no knowledge at all, as such lessons is quickly forgotten). Therefore teachers need to provide experimental work that provides students with concrete examples that can facilitate their understanding of abstract concepts.
Computer aided learning (CAL)
The second aspect of teaching is the Computer Aided Learning (CAL). Nowadays, it has become a common practice in schools to use ICT as a medium of instruction. Computer Aided Learning (CAL) is a teaching approach that could promote learning. Students are provided with tools that aid their collection, manipulation, and analysis of information compared to the normal tasking and time consuming method of data collection and analysis. Next, the use of multimedia software ensures that students actively participate in the teaching learning process (Hake, 1998). Contrary to the one way passive learning process whereby students are the receiver of information and do not have any control to development or the content of the lesson, studying by multimedia could lead to active participation of the students. This in turn could lead to teacher’s immediate assessment of the students’ progress in the learning of subject matter during the lesson (Cox, 2002).
Copyright (C) 2007 HKIEd APFSLT. Volume 8, Issue 1, Article 12 (June, 2007). All Rights Reserved.
