Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
On the other side, the different models and symbols are good for setting
approximate teaching goals for certain classes, to decide when these models and
symbols are being used and which phenomena and reactions are being conducted
and analyzed on the basis of another model. These decisions have to be made
depending on the type of school, class level, prior knowledge, and level of the class
and have to be reconsidered for every class.
Two other examples for a spiral curricular approach for the terms solubility and
acidic solutions can be found (see Fig. 7.4). These approaches begin with the
everyday knowledge - the preconceptions - and proceed along different learning
paths, until the description reaches the highest abstraction level at school.
Schmidkunz and Buttner [
34
] tried to illustrate the whole school chemistry with
the help of a spiral curriculum (see figure
3.9
).
Besides all the terms and their spiral curricular arrangement a big goal of
chemistry lessons is to teach the scientific cognition process: chemistry knowledge
is usually gained with empirical inductive methods. Students will accept this
method easier, if they also use it during their chemistry lessons. The empirical
inductive method is closely related to the hypothetical deductive method as the
following steps show (see also Chap. 5):
- Observe a phenomenon
- Observe other phenomena and empirical results, find a regularity
- Develop a hypothesis to explain the result or regularity
- Test the hypothesis and its conclusions experimentally
- Develop theories and models by combining corroborated hypotheses
Usually not all of these steps can be used on every example in chemistry classes.
But it is not reasonable to randomly skip steps and to proceed too fast from a single
phenomenon to general coherences. The way from single phenomena proceeding to
a hypothesis or empirical regularity is called inductive approach. The way from the
theory over the derived hypothesis to the predicted phenomenon is called deductive
approach. Both methods are complementary.
Teaching problems
. “Lessons have to be considered important, otherwise they
are irrelevant. Learning processes have to be built on the student's interest, other-
wise they do not affect the student. 'To be boring is the greatest sin of teaching',
Herbart wrote in 1806. Therefore teachers have to overcome the rigid teacher-
centred teaching in favor of lessons that are based on a variety of learning situations
and include an extensive spectrum of teaching methods” [
35
].
It is necessary to vary the teaching methods, to reach the multiple teaching goals
in the most interesting ways. There exist different didactical approaches for teach-
ing chemistry: for example the term-oriented approach, which is based on technical
terms and their spiral curricular arrangement. Or the approach, which is oriented
towards the scientific way to gain knowledge in chemistry, for example the empiri-
cal inductive method, where hypothesizing and testing have priority. Besides the
most important teaching and social methods, the above-mentioned teaching
methods and chemistry-educational approaches will be presented and discussed to
provide an extensive spectrum of teaching methods.
