INSTRUCTIONAL

MATERIALS AND FACILITIES

FOR TEACHING SCIENCE
Princess H. Cortez
PhD Science Education, Student
Instructional Materials
■ are the content or information conveyed within a course.
These include the lectures, readings, textbooks, multimedia
components, and other resources in a course. These materials
can be used in both face-to-face and online classrooms;
however, some must be modified or redesigned to be
effective for the online environment. The best instructional
materials are aligned with all other elements in the course,
including the learning objectives, assessments, and activities.
■ defined as resources that organize and support instruction,
such as textbooks, tasks, and supplementary resources
(adapted from Remillard & Heck, 2014). It refers to the
human and non-human materials and facilities that can be
used to ease, encourage, improve and promote teaching and
learning activities. They are whatever materials used in the
process of instruction (IGI global). The great Soviet
encyclopedia defines IMs as educational resources used to
improve students’ knowledge, abilities, and skills, to monitor
their assimilation of information, and to contribute to their
overall development and upbringing.
 
■ Instructional materials also include assessment and testing
methods. Basically, any material, any information
containing resources which that the teacher uses while
instructing. Now testing materials don’t necessarily
contain information, but they help the retention and
learning of information, thus, they are instructional
materials. Sometimes, they are a means to an end, the end
being the assimilation of information.
Classification:
Traditional resources: lectures, talks, writings, project rubrics,
guidelines, textbook primers, reference books, extra-readings,
teacher and student-created summaries, workbooks,
supplementary material such as flashcards and charts
Digital media: Videos, photos, presentations
Open resources: Expert blogs, open-source journals, public
databases, open courseware, forums
Testing resources: Standardized tests, classroom assignments,
online submissions, quizzes, essays, collaborative projects
Why Is It Important?

Instructional materials provide the core information that students will

experience, learn, and apply during a course. They hold the power to
either engage or demotivate students. This is especially true for online
courses, which rely on a thoughtful and complete collection of
instructional materials that students will access, explore, absorb, and
reference as they proceed in a course.
Therefore, such materials must be carefully planned, selected, organized,
refined, and used in a course for the maximum effect. The planning and
selection of instructional materials should take into consideration both the
breadth and depth of content so that student learning is optimized.
 
How to Put Into Practice?

Instructors/teachers and/or instructional designers should

cast a wide net and aim for a variety of materials to include
in their course. At the same time, they should be deliberate
with these choices so that the course has the appropriate
combination of instructional materials. Below are just a few
categories of instructional content to include in an online
course.
Instructional Materials – Lectures

Lectures that resemble traditional instruction are acceptable in the

online classroom; however, the instructor/teacher should ensure
that they serve a unique purpose among the other types of
instructional materials. Lectures, whether they are video- or text-
based, should not be so lengthy as to monopolize the learner’s
time spent in the online classroom, and they should complement
the other instructional materials. In fact, instructors/teachers are
advised to “chunk” or organize shorter segments of lecture
material logically throughout the course.
Tips on developing IMs for lectures:

•Consider the appropriate scope and coverage of the content to convey;

exclude irrelevant or unnecessary information.
•Break up or group content into smaller, logical segments so students
experience it more efficiently.
•Pacing is very important during lecture recordings.
•Invite guest speakers to add variety.
•Integrate interactivity and opportunity for engagement wherever
possible.
•Make sure lectures are accessible by providing transcripts and captions
for all video content.
•Avoid long video lectures, as most students don’t finish watching them;
mini-lectures from five to ten minutes are more engaging.
Instructional Materials - Digital Media

Digital media encompasses all of the audio, video, and visual

content including lectures that instructors/teachers might want to put
in their course. This type of instructional material engages multiple
learner senses, including sight, sound, and in some instances touch,
where the media is interactive.
Selecting digital media for a course requires that instructors/teachers
consider certain aspects such as technical feasibility for both the
creator and the audience of the media. Other aspects to consider
include how to provide accessible content and whether to find
existing materials or create content
Types of LMs for digital media:

•Images or screen captures

•Videos or computer screencasts to demonstrate science, math, business
processes, or art techniques
•Narrated PowerPoint presentations or other mini-lecture recordings using
computer software to record video and audio
•Movie clips to provide examples of concepts or metaphors for discussion
•Audio recordings of instructor explanations (i.e., podcasts)
•Videos or audio recordings of guest expert presentations or interviews
•On-location videos to demonstrate real-world settings or processes
•Learner-created video or audio materials
Instructional Materials – Open Educational Resources
(OERs)

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are a fantastic type of

instructional material because they are free to reuse, adapt, and
share. Moreover, they have been created and curated by
educational professionals. OERs might take the form of lesson
plans, quizzes, online articles, digital media, databases,
simulations, and much more. OERs can be found in large
collections or through search engines. OERs range from
individual images to entire courses.
Following are eight steps to OER integration:

•Find an OER that will help support course or unit-level objectives.

•Assess the quality of the OER.
•Check for license compatibility.
•Eliminate extraneous content within the OER.
•Identify areas of localization.
•Remix the OER with other educational materials, if applicable.
•Determine the logistics (including providing clear instructions) of
using the OER within the lesson or unit.
•Devise a method to evaluate if the OER was effective and
contributed to learning.
Source: Integrating OERs in teaching and learning
Instructional Materials – Accessibility & Universal Design

All instructional content must be accessible to all students. Most

critically, this includes all students with disabilities, which can be visual,
auditory, physical, and/or cognitive in nature. Fortunately, accessible
design that is implemented in the pursuit of such mandates has a
secondary benefit of helping all students learn on a more equal footing.
This secondary benefit is the idea behind Universal Design for Learning
(UDL), which assumes that good design is inherently beneficial for all
learners regardless of ability or background. To this end, there are simple
steps that online instructors can take that have a major impact on the
accessible design of their courses.
Tips for designing accessibility into online courses:

•Use templates provided by campus learning management systems (LMS)

such as Canvas, as they have already been developed for accessibility.

•Carefully follow all directions in the LMS and include all requested
information, e.g., image descriptions for blind or visually impaired students
using screen readers.

•Use tools such as Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word that can make tagged
PDFs.
•Save and use original digital documents rather than using scans of
documents whenever possible, as they are not intelligible to screen reader
software. If necessary, contact the 
McBurney Center’s Document Conversion Service.

•Provide alternative means of access to all multimedia content in a course

such as transcripts and captions. If necessary, contact the 
McBurney Center’s Media Captioning Service.

•Include accessibility statements (or a statement to the effect that none could
be found) for all technologies required in a course.

•Select textbooks early – and ask about accessibility options for purchasers –
to allow time for conversion when accessible versions aren’t available.
Instructional Materials – Copyright

Due to the variety of instructional materials potentially available

for an online course, copyright must be a foremost concern when
deciding which to include. Both text-based and multimedia
components of a course are potentially subject to copyright, so it
is vital that instructors determine the copyright restrictions on
any existing content they want to use in a course. Since the goal
behind copyright is to balance the rights of authors with the
rights of the public to use the work, there are ways to legally re-
use content created by others.
Tips for using existing content without violating copyright law:

•Use material associated with a license that allows for a

particular use that is applicable to the online course; e.g., library-
licensed materials, materials licensed via a department purchase,
or Creative Commons-licensed materials.
•Perform a fair use analysis of the material, which necessarily
takes into account:
1) the purpose and character of use;
2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
3) the amount and substantivity of the portion taken; and 4) the
effect of the use upon the market or the potential market.
•Obtain permission from the copyright holder for a particular use
of the material. (However, this raises a number of potential issues
including: locating the rights holder, paying for rights, or getting
declined.)
•Link to web resources rather than embedding them.
TEACHER IS THE BEST INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL
Teaching is a total package; it is true that teacher is the best instructional
material because teacher is the one who manage the classroom. As the
saying goes “you are the captain of your mind and the master of your
soul” teacher is the captain of the classroom because of molding the
minds of the students to become competent and independent individuals
when it comes to excellence. Master of the classroom because of proving
good feedback and developing the potential of the students through
nurturing their minds for the possibilities in life. Using strategies or
techniques that are varied to make teaching effective and meaningful is
also a big factor for the students so that they can build confidence and
have mastery of the subject matter.
Facilities in Teaching Science:
■ The relevance of science laboratory and equipment to the
teaching of science lies in the fact that these facilitates science
practical. Science practical is considered a key in making science
learning more effective. Science practical provide experience to
science learners and develop science skills, knowledge and
understanding of their world. The goals of scientific literacy and a
sufficient supply of science graduates from higher education
require that elementary, secondary and higher secondary schools
offer realistic and inquiry oriented science curricula that engage
students and inspire them to continue their studies of science.
According to Linn , the aims of widely using laboratories in science
education are as follows:
 To get students comprehend abstract and complex scientific
concepts by using concrete materials.
  To give students problem-solving and analyzing skills by
comprehending the nature of science.
 To develop practical experiences and special talents of students
  To motivate students with laboratory activities and by this way
to develop positive attitude towards scientifically working.
Lack of adequate science teaching facilities will surely affect the teaching
and learning process in science subjects. There are some problems outlined
below encountered in schools due to lack of adequate facilities. It is known
that the academic performance of each student depends to a large extent on
the facilities exposed to while learning, but when these facilities are lacking
some problems is faced.
 The first problem would be generated when there is no conducive
teaching and learning condition. The un-conduciveness could be as a
result of nonavailability of facilities like table and chair in the
classroom. Whenever there is unconducive environment, at the end of
the lesson the students will not achieve the specific objectives. The
discomfort of sharing sits, and desks among students in class is enough
to distract and discourage the interest of students for the whole day’s
work.
 Since students have low interest in science subjects, they will
have a low level of understanding, because interest also plays a
vital role in facilitating learning and for that reason knowledge
delivered to the students would not be fully understood.
 Laboratories are lacking in many schools and in some schools
were they can be found reagents and equipment are lacking. For
instance science students who always learn in abstract, without
practical knowledge of what the teacher is saying, cannot have
effective learning and this will automatically affect his/her
academic performance. These lack of laboratories have resulted to
low interest in science subjects such as physics, chemistry and
biology today.
 Also the non-availability of teaching facilities like textbooks,
buildings, charts, chalkboards etc. Have hindered student’s
performance academically and this has resulted in their low interest
in most of the subjects offered in their various level in secondary
schools.

 Finally, it is observed that students apply their acquired knowledge

ineffectively since they have not been able to be taught with the
practical aspects but rather expressed to only theoretical aspects of
their field of specialization, if they have been opportune to make use
of facilities in different aspects they would have been effectively
appropriate.
How can the government improve effective teaching in schools?

 The government should regularly organize activities like

workshops, seminars, conferences and lectures on educational
administration and planning so that participants can be exposed and
enlightened more about the new innovations and inventions in school
administration process in order to over shadow the old and obsolete
ways of school administration that are used before.
 Adequate teaching facilities should be provided and regular check
up for better improvement where necessary.
 Government should take note on the population growth in the
country for the present and future demand for education.

 The required quantity and quality of facilities that will enhance

learning should be provided by government. Government
wouldn’t have failed because facilities provided were based on
Nigerian demographic data. Considering the accuracy of
population will enable government provide for facilities. The
higher the population the greater the facilities required.
 Facilities like laboratory, chemical and storage facilities like the
refrigerators, lockers, chairs, test tubes, flasks, specimens and
burners increases the skill of the students and help to expand
their scope of knowledge.

 In conclusion, the importance of facilities cannot be

overemphasized, efforts should be made in providing quality
facilities in large quantity to all schools nationwide.