TEACHING

OF
SCIENCE

Dr. R.N. PATEL

B.Sc. (Hons.), M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D.
Former Principal,
Kapila Khandvala College of Education,
Santa Cruz, Mumbai.

MUMBAI  DELHI  NAGPUR  BENGALURU  HYDERABAD 

BHUBANESWAR  CHENNAI  PUNE  INDORE  AHMEDABAD 
LUCKNOW  ERNAKULAM  KOLKATA  GUWAHATI
© AUTHOR
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 PREFACE

Mathematically, it can be said that Life-Science = 0. Utility of Science in our life is extremely
high.
This book is written with the sole purpose of helping the student-teachers in particular and the
teachers’ world at large, in their study of science. Reading this book, they will love science.
This book covers a wide range of issues in the teaching of science and offers supporting tasks
to students to enable them to translate theory into practice.
Large paragraphs have been converted into small ones so that the readers can understand and
remember the contents well for a longer period. Sixth chapter of this book contains the latest matter
regarding the ‘Global Perspective in Teaching Science’ to give the latest idea regarding ‘Globalisation’
and this earth as a ‘Global Village’.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge my hearty thanks to Prin. Dr. P.N. Chavda, Thakur
Shyamnarayan College of Education and Research, Kandivali, Prin. Dr. (Mrs.) Vandana P. Maheshwari,
KKCE, Santa Cruz and Prin. Shri Japanbhai Desai, Sardar B.Ed. College, Amroli, Surat, for their
timely help in providing reference books which were really useful in my undertaking.
My hearty thanks to Shri Rameshbhai G. Sailor, a Deputy Manager, Heavy Water Plant Unit,
CRIBHCO, for extending his hands of co-operation by providing suitable matter w.r.t. ‘Global
Perspectives’ for this book.
I cannot help acknowledging my sincere thanks to three collegians, Kshitij M. Patel, Vismay M.
Patel and Devang P. Sailor, all computer and internet experts for providing matter to make my
endeavour a grand success.
I also acknowledge my sincere and hearty thanks to the publisher of this book for making the
get-up and set-up of this book extremely attractive.
Constructive suggestions and comments on this book from the readers are welcomed.

R.N. PATEL
 CONTENTS

1. SCIENCE — A WELLSPRING OF OUR DISCONTENT 1 – 6

About Science — Salient Traits of Science — What is Science?

2. MEANING, NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF SCIENCE 7 – 12

Meaning and Nature of Science — Structure of Science — Salient Features of Science.

3. SCIENCE CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION 13 – 50

What is Curriculum? Definitions and Meaning — Purposes of Curriculum — Major

Defects in Present Curriculum — Critical Assessment — Improving Science Curriculum/
Reforming Steps — Need for Planning of Curriculum — Constructing Curriculum in
Science — Principles of Curriculum Construction — Science Curriculum Improvement in
India — Important Bases of Curriculum Construction — Types of Curriculum in Science
— Some Problems of Curriculum Construction.

4. THE PLACE OF SCIENCE IN SCHOOL CURRICULUM 51 – 57

Why to Learn Science? — Commissions/Committees Reports — Main Features of National

Curriculum Framework for School Education, 2000.

5. CURRICULUM OF SCIENCE AT DIFFERENT STAGES 58 – 66

Aims of Science Education — Curriculum at Different Stages.

6. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES IN SCIENCE TEACHING 67 – 85

What is Globalisation? Global Learning — Global Education Perspective — Infusing

Global Education Perspective into Science Curriculum — Preparing Science Teachers
with a Global Perspective.

7. PLANNING FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING 86 – 95

Why to Plan? — Long Range Planning — Provision for Individual Differences — Ability
Grouping — Differential Assignments — Contract Type of Assignment — Multiple-level
Type of Assignment — Directed Study and Individual Differences — Micro-teaching —
Programmed Learning — Prognosis and Diagnosis — Planning a Schedule for a Course
— Detailed Planning of Separate Unit of Work — Planning the Daily Lesson — Practical
Hint on Planning the Daily Lesson.

8. MEANS OF EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION 96 – 111

Important Considerations — Four Fundamental Problems of Instruction of Science —

Instructing Science for Understanding — The Genetic Approach — Developmental
Teaching — Instruction for Assimilating Understanding — Directed Study in Science —
Instruction for Permanence — Instruction for Transfer — Some non-traditional Patterns
of Science Instruction
 9. IMPORTANCE/VALUES OF TEACHING SCIENCE 112 – 126

What is Teaching Science? — Purposes of Teaching Science — Importance/Values of

Teaching Science — Utilitarian/Practical Value — Social Value — Moral Value —
Aesthetical/Artistic Value — Intellectual Value — Disciplinary Value — Cultural Value
— International Value — Psychological Value — Economical Value — Scientific Value
— Concentrative Value — Expressive Value.

10. METHODS OF TEACHING SCIENCE 127 – 181

How to Teach? — Classification of Methods of Teaching Science — Lecture Method —

Demonstration Method — Lecture-cum-demonstration Method — Historical Method —
Discussion Method — Heuristic Method — Assignment Method — Project Method —
Inductive-Deductive Method — Laboratory Method — Problem-solving Method - What
is a Suitable Method of Teaching Science?

11. STIMULATING AND MAINTAINING INTEREST IN SCIENCE 182 – 191

Stimulus/Motivation — Interest — Suggestions for Stimulating and Maintaining Interest

in Science.

12. LEARNING SCIENCE 192 – 197

What is Behaviour? — What is Learning? — What are Learning Activities? — What are
Learning Experiences? — Learning Science — Types of Learning Science — Laws of
Learning Science.

13. EFFECTIVE & MEANINGFUL LEARNING IN SCIENCE 198 – 205

What is Learning? — What is Meaningful Learning? — What is Effective Learning? —

Principles of Effective and Meaningful Learning in Science.

14. AIMS & OBJECTIVES OF TEACHING SCIENCE 206 – 217

Goals/Aims — Aims of Teaching Science — What are Objectives? — Relation between

Aims and Objectives — Objectives of Science — Instructional and Personality Objectives.

15. UNIT PLANNING AND DAILY LESSON PLANNING 218 – 235

The Unit — The Unit Planning — Approaches to Unit Plan — What is Lesson Planning?
— Need/Importance of Lesson Planning — Its Principles — Pre-requisites for Effective
Lesson Planning — Types of Lesson Plans — Main Forms of Lesson Planning — Unit
Planning vs. Daily Lesson Planning.

16. EVALUATION IN SCIENCE TEACHING 236 – 248

Concepts of Test, Measurement & Evaluation — Nature and Purpose of Evaluation —

Scope of Evaluation — Types of Evaluation — Continuity of Evaluation — Functions —
Techniques — Improving Evaluation Programme — Question/Item Bank — Grade System.
17. AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS IN TEACHING OF SCIENCE 249 – 287

Introduction — Concept and Meaning — Significance — Need/Importance/Values of AV

Aids — Basic Principles of AV Aids — Problems Related to AV Aids — Classification
of TA — Types of Aids.

18. CORRELATION IN TEACHING OF SCIENCE 288 – 309

What is Correlation? — Need of Correlation — Importance/Advantages of Correlation —

Correlation of Science with Life/Environment/Different Branches of Science/Different
Topics in the Same Branch/Other Subjects — Correlation with Biological Sciences/
Mathematics/Social Sciences/History/Geography/Civics/Language/Psychology/Philosophy/
Fine Arts/Crafts/Engineering/Work Experience/Hygiene/Social and Physical Environments.

19. SCIENTIFIC METHOD — ATTITUDE — APPRECIATION 310 – 316

What is Scientific Method? — Some Implications of Using Scientific Method — Scientific

Attitude — Development of Scientific Attitude — Scientific Appreciation.

20. CREATIVITY IN SCIENCE TEACHING 317 – 324

What is Creativity? — Process of Creativity — Approaches w.r.t. Nature of Creativity —

Nature/Characteristics of Creativity — Creativity Development among Children — Basic
Principles for Creativity Development — Creativity and Intelligence.

21. BACKWARDNESS IN SCIENCE: DIAGNOSTIC TESTING AND

REMEDIAL TEACHING 325 – 335

Causes of backwardness in Science — Diagnostic Testing and Remedial Teaching —

Diagnostic Evaluation — Characteristics of an Efficient Programme of Diagnosis — Self-
diagnosis by Pupils — Remedial Measures — Organising Remedial Teaching.

22. ENRICHMENT AND RECREATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR GIFTED 336 – 341

Identification of Gifted Children in Science — Selecting Enrichment and Recreational

Material — What Teachers can do for Gifted.

23. NATIONAL SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH SCHEME (NSTSS) 342 – 345

History of the Scheme — Selection Procedure — Aims of Science Talent Search —

Summer Schools for NSTS Scholars.

24. MICRO-TEACHING (MT) 346 – 367

Need of MT — Definitions and Meaning — Nature and Characteristics — Procedure/

Steps of MT Technique — Basic Principles — Merits and Demerits — Identification of
Teaching Skills — Skill of Introducing the Lesson — Skill of Probing Questions — Skill
of Stimulus Variation — Skill of Reinforcement — Skill of Promoting Pupil Participation
— Simulated Teaching — Its Elements — Problems of SSST.

25. PROGRAMMED LEARNING IN SCIENCE 368 - 390

Concept and Definitions — Meaning, Nature and Characteristics — What is a Frame? —

Development of Programmed Material — Principles of PI/PL — Style of Programming
 — Linear Programming — Branching Programming — Comparison — Mathetics
Programming — Applications of Programming Principles — Teaching Machines —
Utilisation of Programmed Materials — Selection of Programmed Materials — Evaluation
of Programmed Materials.

26. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) IN SCIENCE 391 – 398

Technology — Background Matters — Potentials of ICT — Essentials of ICT — Means

of ICT — How to use ICT? — Advantages and Disadvantages — What the Indian
Teachers should do.

27. SCIENCE LABORATORY 399 – 415

What is a Science Lab? — Need/Importance/Functions of the Science Lab — Types of

Science Labs — Labs for the Higher Secondary Pupils — Organisation of Science Labs.

28. LABORATORY WORK/ACTIVITIES IN SCIENCE 416 – 434

Lab Work/Activities — Value/Importance — Types — Administration — Advantages

and Disadvantages — Role of Lab Work in Science Teaching — Problem of Space —
Planning for Science Room — Planning Workrooms for Science in Elementary School —
Purposes of Elementary Science Workroom — All Science Combination Lab — Mobile
Science Lab — Bulletin Board and Blackboard — First Aid in Science Lab.

29. SELECTION, PURCHASE, SUPPLY AND MAINTENANCE OF EQUIPMENT 435 – 446

Science Teacher and Equipment — Selection and Purchase — Planning — Sources —

Reasons for Equipment — Supply — Projects to Fail — Supply and Distribution —
Storage of Equipment — Arrangement — The Equipment Inventory — Care and
Maintenance — Entry in the Registers.

30. IMPROVISATION OF APPARATUS 447 – 457

The Present Position — Equipment of Science Education — Characteristics — Process

of Developing Improvised Apparatus — Classification of Educational Material —
Importance/Values of Improvisation — Home-made Equipment — Problems — Advantages
— Supply Strategies of Low Cost Equipment.

31. SCIENCE LIBRARY 458 – 465

What is Science Library? — Why Separate Science Library? — Utility/Need/Importance

— Organisation and Management

32. SCIENCE FAIRS/EXHIBITIONS AND MUSEUMS 466 – 473

Introduction — Main Objectives of National-level Science Exhibition — Utility/Value —

Organisation — Effective Organisation — Science Museums.

33. EXCURSIONS/VISITS/FIELD TRIPS 474 – 480

Introduction — Utility/Value/Benefits — Organisation — Precautions during Excursion.

34. SCIENCE TEXT BOOKS 481 – 496

Introduction — Meaning — Significance — Multiplicity of Good Text Books — Functions/

Merits — Need/Importance — Characteristics/Features/Requirements — How to Use the
Text Book? — Critical Evaluation.

35. SELECTION AND ORGANISATION OF CONTENT OF A TEXTBOOK IN SCIENCE 497 – 507

Introduction — Selection — Organisation of Content — Types of Organisation.

36. SCIENCE TEACHER 508 – 532

Role/Importance — Need — Functions — Qualities and Characteristics — Professional

Expectations — Growth — Teacher Preparation before go into Classroom — Science
Teacher’s Diary — Characteristics of Future Science Teachers in India.

37. SCIENCE CLUB 533 – 544

Introduction Objectives — Types — Need/Importance/Merits — Organisation — Merits

of Organising Activities — Evaluation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 545 – 546

INDEX 547 – 550

 SCIENCE — A
1 WELLSPRING OF OUR
DISCONTENT

1.1 About Science

 Science has many images. Nearly two centuries ago, Schiller said of Science — ‘To one
man it is the highest thing, a heavenly goddess; to another, it is a productive and proficient
cow, who supplies him with butter’.
 On TV a scientist may be —
(i) a mad genius, or
(ii) a man in a white laboratory-coat, or
(iii) an iron-willed and hard-driving researcher without time for or interest in his wife
or children.
 On TV Science is — (1) space rockets,
(2) computers, and
(3) miracle coating that make razor blades last longer.
 Warren Weaver (1960) — ‘Science is not technology, it is not gadgetry, it is not some
mysterious cult, it is not a great mechanical monster. Science is an adventure of the human
spirit. It is essentially an artistic enterprise, stimulated largely by disciplined imagination,
and based largely on faith in the reasonableness, order, and beauty of the universe of which
man is a part.’
 Science like music and fine art, is a wellspring of the divine discontent that stirs man
to seek more of life than merely to eat and to sleep.
 And that discontent is flamed higher by the partner of science, advancing technology,
through which we can realistically contemplate the practical achievement of the highest
ideals for the condition of man.
 The true significance of the space age, this accelerating age of science and technology
in which we now live, is that it is beginning to lead us to wonder, once again, about
1
 2 TEACHING OF SCIENCE

the Nature and purpose of man about what constitutes the good life and the good
society.
 The space age is bringing philosophy once again to the centre of the scene because the
products of science and technology offer us the prospect of satisfying the material needs
of all of the people of earth.
 Today science is a matter of concern to everybody — it is a large and growing part of our
national effort. The flowering of science seems suddenly to have burst upon us.
 But, to be truthful, the progress of science has not been sudden. Rather it has come, by
and large, in steady and persistent small steps. So, with the 4th October, 1957, in the
afternoon, Sputnik I made us realised that we were living in the age of man’s conquest
of space.
 The force of science has always, in modern times, been a major factor shaping social
and cultural patterns.

1.2 Salient Traits of Science

1. Science is constantly, systematically and inexorably revisionary.
 Science is a self-correcting process and one that is self-destroying of its own errors.
 It is the essence of the scientific way that none of the laws of science is sacred, but
stands or falls by the degree to which it works and by the effectiveness with which it
simplifies the apparent complexity of what we see in the neutral world around us, e.g.,
 Aristotle believed that heavier bodies have stronger force and fall faster. But Galileo
proved that light and heavy bodies fall from a certain height at the same rate if irrelevant
effects of air are discontinued.
 It is the characteristics of science that it pushes constantly into new and unfamiliar
realm of existence, and when it does so, our older laws often prove inadequate and their
predictions fail, requiring revision.
 It is because of this externally revisionary nature that science is disruptive of the status
quo.
2. A related trait of science is its destruction of idols, destruction of the gods that men live by.
Science, being self-revising, has no absolute right or absolute justice.
 It is not concerned with ultimate truths, but with useful or simple or aesthetically
beautiful inter-relationships among things apparently unconnected.
 In pre-Galilean times the people and the Church believed in the perfection of the Sun
and the notion that the Earth is at the centre of the Universe and the Sun revolves
around the Earth. This notion much to the distress of the Church and of Galileo could
not be held on an absolute basis when Galileo proved experimentally that it is not the
Sun but the Earth revolves round the Sun.
 To live comfortably with science it is necessary to live with a dynamically changing
system of concepts.
 SCIENCE — A WELLSPRING OF OUR DISCONTENT 3

3. Not only are the tenets of science constantly subject to change and to revision, but its
prophets are under challenge too, e.g., The law of conservation of mass had to be modified
and become the law of conservation of mass-energy when the relativistic physics of Einstein
emerged.
 What is the origin of the universe? George Gamow’s ‘Big Bang Theory’ and Fred
Hoyle’s continuous creation theory’ — both differ. To a non-scientist this disagreement
can be a source of great distress. How can these two experts disagree on matters of
exact science!
4. The findings of science have an embarrassing way of turning out to be relevant to the
customs and to the civil laws of men — requiring these customs and laws also to be revised.
 The advancement of medical science can also bring us real embarrassment in these
fields because penal codes are often geared to a system for slower to adapt to change
than fits the pace of science.
5. Certainly we have seen spectacular changes in the concept of private property and of
national borders as we have moved into the space age, e.g.,
(1) At what height above a country is it perfectly all right to fly a satellite without consulting
the country? At what height does it become an invasion to fly an aeroplane or a
balloon?
6. The pace of technological advance gravely threatens the bountiful and restorative power or
nature to resist modification, e.g., polluted air from gigantic super-cities can spread beyond
the borders of whole states and cannot be rapidly enough cleansed by the rains, and the
wines and the curative breathing of plants.
 Polluted rivers, harbours, beaches contaminate our food supplies, spread disease, violate
the beauty of the out-of-doors and on the other hand the space age gives us ever more
leisure to enjoy, could we but find it.
7. Another trait of science that leads to much hostility or misunderstanding by the non-scientists
is the fact that science is practised by a small group of superior people.
 Worse yet, the scientists who make up this elite are hard for others to understand.
 These scientists have a special language, verbal and mathematical, of their own. They
use common words in unfamiliar ways.
8. The most socially important trait of science is that, it is a major source of man’s dissatisfaction
with the world as it is — it is a wellspring of man’s discontent with the status quo.
 The implicit promises of science and technology are the heart of the present rebellion
of the underfed and under-clothed.
 They give a clear achievable prospect of food and comfort for all, if only all the people
on earth become sufficiently determined to use science and technology to this end.
 Surely the 21st century has seen the harvest of the major fruits of science and engineering
in the underdeveloped regions of the earth. If we stand in the way of this irresistible
impact of science on the developing cultural patterns, we will be destroyed. If we ignore
the approaching tides of progress, we may find ourselves on a small island isolated in
a vast hostile sea.
 4 TEACHING OF SCIENCE

 We are now deep into the age of science. It cannot be ignored. Jet airplanes circle the globe
in hours. Image of wealth or poverty or of a particular political ideology flash into missions
of home, everywhere, instantly.
 Weapons systems can eradicate hundreds of millions of lives in minutes. And now
many nations diligently applying technological skills to the problems of how to design
and manage such weapons systems.
 The magnificent structure of the relativity theory of Einstein, a notion that has stirred the
very foundations of our thinking, a creation of beauty that ranks with the greatest of Beethoven.
 And with this age of science, comes its promise of what the life of man can be, with food
for all, with education for all, with human freedom, with a stable population.
 With this age of technology comes the realistic expectation that even the added billions
can live in harmonious equilibrium with a natural environment of quality.
 For man, life need not be nasty, brutish, short — but a life rich with peace of mind and
rewarding leisure tasks, with comfort and health.
 In our explosively changing world it is no longer sufficient to live with philosophies or
religions simply handed down from an older generation. We must take up a vital,
flexible and ever-evolving concern about the nature and purpose of man, and about
what constitutes a good life and a good society in the light of today’s communications,
population growth, races, political systems, weapons.
 Rather than, simply fight for the preservation of the old things that are good, we must
plan creatively also to shape the new.
 There will always be danger. Thornton Wilder — ‘Every good and excellent thing
stands moment by moment at the razor edge of danger, and must be fought for.’
 To be what we can be, we must be unafraid to place ourselves, our ways of life, our
economic systems, in the microscope of science. To be what we can be, we must first
and foremost know what we want to be.

1.3 What is Science?

 Man, by nature, is inquisitive, curious. He tries to find ‘How’ and ‘Why’ of all that happens
in nature and his surroundings. What is science? and How does it grow?’ — are the key
questions for him to know and understand.
 His spirit of inquiry at first extends to most simple facts of nature and afterwards on
complex ones.
 The curiosity of man to know about nature’s mysteries led to the establishment of
certain knowledge based upon facts.
 He also tried to understand its laws and tried to make use of them in his day-to-day life.
 There is no one exact definition of ‘science’ which is universally accepted. A.D. Ritchie —
‘Science is the process of exploring the external world.’ Henry Poincare — ‘Science is built
of facts as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than
a heap of stones.’
 SCIENCE — A WELLSPRING OF OUR DISCONTENT 5

 Thus, Science is a process by which we increase and refine understanding of ourselves

and of universe through continuous empirical and active observations, systematic
experimentation, application and verification.
 There cannot be any event in nature without any reason. There is a universal law of
‘cause and effect’. Science is nothing but a search for causes of natural phenomena and
other events.
 Science is a cumulative and endless series of empirical observations which results in the
formation of concepts and principles.
 Science is both — a body of knowledge and the process of acquiring it.
 Science is an accumulated and systematised learning in general usage restricted to
natural phenomenon.
 The progress of science is marked not only by the accumulation of facts, but also by
the emergence of scientific method and of the scientific attitude.
 Science is more of a verb than it is a noun. Because the true nature of science reveals
more in the way it is sought rather than in what is found.
 In the process of search for knowledge and truth, man has accumulated a vast store of
knowledge known as science through which —
(a) We can get sufficient help to understand ourselves, our surroundings and environment,
i.e., our external world;
(b) We can also get help for making the forces around us favourable to us;
(c) We can obtain the basis for improving and making our lives more comfortable by
making adjustments to the new discoveries and inventions and to the old stock of
knowledge;
(d) This store of gained knowledge can be transferred from one generation to another for
preservation and for the process of civilisation.
 To understand one of the definitions of science we have to understand how scientists work,
because ‘science is what scientists do.’
There are at least three basic functions that scientists do.
(1) Scientists describe:
 They search the answers of the questions — What is this universe? What are the structures
and functions of it? How vast it is?, etc.
 They try to describe natural phenomena and establish relationship between them. For this,
they use scientific method.
 This description made by a scientist on the basis of his observations and critical thinking
is open to verification and can be changed by other scientists.
(2) Scientists explain:
 After describing a phenomenon/event, scientists try to find out the reason why the event
occurs.
 6 TEACHING OF SCIENCE

 This involves careful observation of interactions and inter-relationships between different

things and conditions under which such phenomena occur.
 An explanation is a very careful description which involves the knowledge of the
different factors/variables.
 For example, second type of levers always give mechanical advantage. Why? To explain
this the knowledge of load, load-arm, effort, effort-arm, law of moments, etc. is quite
necessary.
(3) Scientists predict
 Extending our knowledge to new situations involves prediction, e.g., when acidic oxide
reacts with water, acid is formed. Then one may predict that when basic oxide reacts
with water, base may be formed. One has to test it. If it does then the prediction is
correct. Scientists go on testing to see if principles that apply in one situation may also
apply in another.
 Science is the process and method and not the result of the process. The knowledge itself
is, no doubt, important but more important is the method of explaining that knowledge.
 Science guides us in the solution of problems objectively without any bias and prejudice.
Thus, it directs us in the real pursuit of truth.
 Science cannot be merely termed as the body of accumulated facts but it is essentially
a process or method of explaining and accumulating these facts.
 Science, therefore, is a process or method adopted in the search of truth.

EVALUATE YOURSELF
1. ‘Science like music and fine art, is a well-spring of the divine discontent that stirs man to seek more
of life than merely to eat and to sleep’ — Comment giving suitable illustrations.
2. Explain at length the salient traits of science.
3. ‘Science is what scientists do’ — Explain such that ‘what science is’ can be well-understood.

***
‘Make a European Society with India’s religion … Be western in your spirit of equality, freedom,
work and energy and at the same time a Hindu to the very backbone in your religious culture
and instinct.”
— Swami Vivekanand