Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
successfully - that may motivate them to continue the work for chemistry happily.
Chapters 5-7 on experiments, models, and chemical symbols will offer concrete
help to design an understandable introduction to chemistry.
Genetic learning.
Reading the topics of Wagenschein [
7
] you can sense what
special questions are used to enter into scientific problems, to motivate long-lasting
thinking, and to stimulate successful learning. An entry into a problem should not
be “too complex nor too easy,” the intellectual work should be more exemplary, and
the intellectual work should lead “down to elementary questions and up to complex
answers” [
7
].
In this context, we can use an example from school physics explained in
Wagenschein's own words: “A possible start into mechanics is the harmless
question: Where does a stone land that is held out of the window of a high rising
tower and then released? It seems trivial at first. But then the question confuses in a
most captivating way, if one thinks about the curvature of the Earth and the Earth's
rotation. First you hold a lag to the west for granted, then because of the earth's
rotation you doubt: the rotating air is responsible for co-rotating of the stone. But
why is that the fact? Why is there no constant east wind? Analogous experiences in
the railway carriage with open and closed windows come up
These issues can
cause hours of heated debate. They end with the discovery of the law of inertia and,
finally, and this is a sensation, with a deviation to the east. Finally, the students
really believe that the earth revolves” [
7
].
This
exemplaric
(starting with concrete experience),
socratic
(establishing a
question-answer game), or
genetic
(developing the progress psychologically step
by step) way to doubt or question the alleged self-evident, to favor the confusion of
students and thereby create a productive tension characterizes the approach of
Wagenschein. This approach will not only give motivating insights but also a
way of gaining knowledge: “There are two very different teaching styles: whether
the teacher wants to show the student only that it is what it is, or if they also want to
teach how mankind could achieve all knowledge. Only the second way, the genetic
way, has to do with successful exemplary learning” [
7
]. It should not be
underestimated, that this teaching method puts high demands on teachers and
students.
References to everyday life.
Typical chemistry classes - especially in high
schools - mostly implement a scientific structure: teachers bring this orientation
from their courses at universities and in accordance with these experiences they also
base their chemistry lessons on this way. Students who come to school compulso-
rily, and may expect to learn for their everyday life, realize that there is no relation
to their environment. They are forced to learn quite formally to get the desired good
grades: this approach will lead almost exclusively to extrinsic motivation.
To provide the necessary scientific structure for chemistry while also motivating
intrinsically, it is useful for the teacher to integrate everyday life into lessons.
Additional to the laboratory chemicals, substances and reactions from the kitchen,
bathroom, garden, or garage should be taken into consideration. Chapter 8 “Every-
day life and chemistry” offers many exemplary references to everyday life: they
may motivate at the beginning of a lesson, or at the end of the lesson, or as
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