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 DEDICATED  TO  

 

 

 

 

 

SHREE DINKAR RAI C . NAIK

 

Chapter 1 Essential Qualities of a Great Science Teacher

Essential Qualities of a Great Science Teacher

 

 

 

Good Science Teachers Have These Great Qualities

 

 

Year after year, parents request the best K-12 science teachers for their children. These teachers know their subject matter and do all they can to ensure their students are learning the material so that when they graduate from high school, they will be career-ready, college-prepared and able to contribute to society. Other qualities of a good science teacher include being passionate about teaching effective, curriculum and standards-based science lessons, showing up for work early and helping their school excel.

6 Qualities of a Good Science Teacher

 

 

1. Engages students at a high level
2. Knows students’ learning styles
3. Brings science lessons to life with real-world applications
4. Understands student sensitivities and differences
5. Is committed to continual professional improvement
6. Adjusts science lesson plans based on students’ assessment evaluations

 

Professional Development Essential

Good science teachers make a commitment to keep their science education current by taking advantage of professional development opportunities. In addition to training provided onsite and offsite at the school, consider getting the Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction – Science Education graduate degree. The M.Ed. Science is a no-thesis, activity-based degree that adheres to national and Texas standards and is a great pathway for Ph.D. students. Highly effective science teachers will be just as committed to their own learning as to their students’. Understanding the latest instructional topics such as scientific misconceptions/alternative conceptions, logical-mathematical and scientific reasoning and motivation are among the benefits of the master’s degree.

Leaders in the Classroom and the School

Contributing to their school’s high-quality, standards-based science curriculum and being active in the larger science education discipline are other qualities of a good science teacher. Science education is broader than the classroom and a good science teacher works to ensure colleagues are current about the latest systemic teaching methods. By helping the school as a whole to be successful, a good science teacher is strengthening America’s economy and competitiveness, one science lesson at a time.

 

 

Chapter 2 THE EFFECTIVE SCIENCE TEACHER: WHO ARE YOU?

THE EFFECTIVE SCIENCE TEACHER: WHO ARE YOU?

 

As a [science] teacher, you will have a special role in bridging the gap between the different world of science and scientists and the world of students in middle/junior and high schools. Are there characteristics common to teachers who do this effectively? There are two sources of information that will help us with this question. One is the result of the effective teaching research over the past twenty-five years, and the other comes from the insight and wisdom if-you-will of outstanding secondary teachers.

Effective Teachers

In recent years, researchers have investigated the relationship between teacher behavior (strategies and methods of instruction) and student performance (conceptual learning, attitudes). Through a technique in which a large number of research studies are synthesized, researchers have found clusters of instructional strategies and methods that are related to increased cognitive outcomes. At this stage in your study of science teaching, I assume that you have not mastered these behaviors. Instead, these characteristics will be viewed as advance organizers for our study of effective science teaching. The lists (Figures 1.19 and 1.19a) that follow have been paraphrased from Hofwolt and Borich.

Individual teachers will vary considerably in their style, and in the specific strategies they use to help students come to enjoy and learn science. However, there appears to be a clustering of broad patterns of teacher behaviors that effective teachers employ. Here are two sets of behaviors, shown side-by-side, one that appears to characterize secondary teachers in general, and the other that is more specific to secondary science teachers.

Effective Teachers: What Strategies Do They Use?

• Clarity: Their presentation to the class is clear and understandable. Initial explanations are clear, logical and easy to follow.
• Variety: Teachers who show variety use a variety of behaviors to reinforce students, ask many and a variety of questions, use a variety of learning materials, equipment, displays---in short, hands-on materials.
• Task Orientation: Teachers who spend more time on intellectual content rather than on procedures or classroom rules tend to have higher rates of achievement.
• On-Task Behavior: This refers to the amount of time that students are actually on-tasks engaged with learning materials and activities. On-task behavior is closely related to classroom management behaviors of the teacher.
• Success Rate: This characteristic is closely related to student self-esteem. Naturally, if students are succeeding a moderate-to-high rates, then students are going to feel good about themselves as science learners and have positive attitudes about science. A key behavior here is the teachers ability to design learning tasks that lead to high success rates, but are not dull or repetitive, or viewed as a waste of time
• Using Student Ideas: acknowledging, modifying, applying, comparing, and summarizing student's comments can contribute to a positive learning environment. Teachers who use student ideas are genuinely interacting with students, thereby effecting student self-esteem.
• Instructional Set: This refers to teacher statements made at the beginning of a lesson, or at transition points in the lesson that help the students organize what is to come or what has happenedbefore.
• Questioning: Teachers can and do ask a variety of questions. Knowing what kinds and when to ask questions seems to be important to student learning. Related to questioning is the behavior of 'wait time' which refers to the amount of time teachers wait after asking students a question
• Enthusiasm: This humanistic behavior refers to the teacher's vigor, power, involvement, excitement, and interest during a class presentation. Enthusiasm manifests itself by the teachers use of eye contact, gesturing, movement, use of supportive and approval behaviors, variety of teaching techniques, and love of science

An Effective Teacher Speaks

There are many effective teachers in the United States. You will read in the Science Teachers Talk sections in the Science Teacher Gazette the comments made by several outstanding science teachers that I interviewed for this book. An eloquent spokesperson of effective teachers is Eliot Wigginton, one of the best-known high school teachers. Wigginton, who is a secondary teacher in Rabun County, Georgia, is probably best known for his Foxfire books, and community-based, experiential approach to teaching. In his book, Sometimes A Shining Moment: The Foxfire Experience---Twenty Years Teaching in a High School Classroom, Wigginton grapples with the question, How do we make teaching work? His response was to outline "some overarching truths" about teaching, principles of teaching which to Wigginton differentiate effective from ineffective teachers. Following are brief comments about each of these overarch truths. Wigginton acknowledges that he is constantly searching for ways to answer the question, and says that he tries new approaches, rips apart his lesson plans, and hopes for those moments when things work and his students soar. Examine his list, and compare them to the categories of behaviors that researchers have found to characterize effective teachers. Here in brief are Wigginton's overarching truths about teaching.

Wholistic View of Subject Matter. This is the characteristic that tends to get students to recall their memorable teachers. "They made the subject come alive," or She really loved her subject," are some of things students remember about outstanding teachers. Wigginton claims that effective teachers see the interdependence of their own discipline with all others. They see their subject whole. They are the science teachers who see instantly every major science related news event. Or as he says, carpet dyes and gymnasium floor waxes and cans of beer become subjects of chemical analysis, and the first spring flowers become targets of botanical scrutiny. These teachers help students relate their subject matter to the whole world, and he goes as far to say that if there is no way to help students make linkages between this course and the whole world, and relate them to the students' lives, then the course should not be offered at all.

Know How Learning Takes Place. According to Wigginton, the effective teacher understands how learning takes place, knows how to apply the principles of learning, and believes that all students can learn. To Wigginton, this last notion is at the heart of the teaching profession. Teachers who know how learning takes place understand motivation in learning. They have moved away from extrinsic motives (candy, grades, a prize) toward intrinsic motives (natural curiosity, desire for competence and mastery). They help students make connections between the information they are to learn and their own world. These teachers also know that learning takes place by doing, and that learning begins with meaningful experiences and then moves to the text or the teacher, and then on to evaluation, analysis, reflection, and a return to meaningful, hands-on experiences.

Know Their Students. Wigginton feels that effective teachers try to bring education and the lives of students together by getting to know them better. He points out that is a tricky area, because many teachers feel distance should be kept from students---and perhaps students may not want to know us. However, Wigginton believes that in order to make instruction and the curriculum relevant to the students, it goes without saying, that educators must know their students. He says, for example, "when I know students reasonably well, I know the extent of the demands I can make upon them; I know something about their talents and abilities and likes and dislike, and thus I can lead them into educational activities with reasonable hope of success."

Make Careful Assumptions. The central idea here is very simple: the best teachers never make negative assumptions about the potential of their students. Wigginton says that too often, the disease model of education is at play, wherein the student is viewed as defective, and it is the job of schools and teachers to fix them. This is in stark contrast to his view that students have a variety of strengths and abilities, and it the the job of the school and teachers to take advantage of them, and in the process turn areas of weakness around. As Wigginton says, we make cripples of students on the basis of assumptions we make about them. As a future science teacher, this is especially crucial given the negative attitudes that prevail among students toward science. The evidence from research studies (especially the famous Pygmalion effect study by Robert Rosenthal) suggests that students who receive attention, have higher goals set for them, and even more demands, often do advance academically. Students who we establish low expectations for, give less attention, do not advance academically. Teachers' attitudes and the assumptions they make about students can play as important a role in cognitive learning as all the methods, strategies and materials of teaching that we use.

Understand the Role of Self-esteem. Effective teachers know that how students feel about themselves foretells how they perceive, react to, and perform in the world. Self-esteem is especially important in science teaching, again, because of the negative connotations students have toward the study of science. One of the best remedies, and effective teachers know this, is to plan learning experiences that lead to student success, that build upon the student's dignity and self-worth.

Wigginton explores other characteristics of effective teachers. He suggests that these teachers also recognize their humanness, understand the nature of discipline and control, help students analyze and react to other adults, constantly engage in professional growth activities, and know how to avoid teacher burnout.

As you continue with your study of science teaching, come back to these characteristics---those resulting from the science of research, and the wisdom-of-practice.

 

Chapter 3 Characteristics of Highly Effective Science Teacher

 

Characteristics of Highly Effective Science Teacher 

 

 

 

Teaching and Learning Learning Climate: a safe environment supported by the teacher in which high, clear expectations and positive relationships are fostered; active learning is promoted Teacher

 Characteristics: A- Teacher creates learning environments where students are active participants as individuals and as members of collaborative groups. The teacher: 1) creates learning environments where students are active participants as individuals and as members of collaborative groups in creating, questioning, sharing, discussing, reasoning and analyzing the processes involved in solving scientific problems/tasks.

B - Teacher motivates students and nurtures their desire to learn in a safe, healthy and supportive environment which develops compassion and mutual respect.

 C- Teacher cultivates cross cultural understandings and the value of diversity. The teacher: 1) Cultivates cross cultural understandings and the value of diversity, including an understanding that women and minorities have historically often been excluded from making contributions to science.

 D- Teacher encourages students to accept responsibility for their own learning and accommodates the diverse learning needs of all students.

 E- Teacher displays effective and efficient classroom management that includes classroom routines that promote comfort, order and appropriate student behaviors.

 F- Teacher provides students equitable access to technology, space, tools and time.

G- Teacher effectively allocates time for students to engage in hands-on experiences, discuss and process content and make meaningful connections.

 H- Teacher designs lessons that allow students to participate in empowering activities in which they understand that learning is a process and mistakes are a natural part of learning.

• Teacher creates an environment where student work is valued, appreciated and used as a learning tool.

 

 

Chapter 4 What are the Qualities of a Good Science Teacher?

 

What are the Qualities of a Good Science Teacher?

 

 

Qualities of a Good Science Teacher

Besides possessing the personal qualities, every science teacher should fulfill the following broad requirements.

1. Practical knowledge of child psychology and of the learning process.

 

1. Trained in the modern methods and techniques.
2. Basic academic requirements.

 

1. A science teacher must have practical knowledge of child psychology and of the process of learning. The science teacher should be able to eater to individual differences in the class. Knowledge of child psychology helps a teacher to guide the students according to their interests, capabilities and help in educational, vocational and personal problems. Besides these, a science teacher should be of a scientific temper, rational in approach to problems, free of bias and superstitions, innovative, inquisitive about the world around him. A Science teacher should regularly evaluate his teaching so that he can keep improving and also help him identify his weakness.
2. A science teacher must be trained in modern methods and techniques of science. New methods and techniques are being employed in the teaching of science. Science Clubs, improvisation of apparatus, programmed instruction, teaching machines and many other new concepts are coming in. It is, therefore, desirable that a science teacher is trained and well versed in:

 

(i) Development of aquaria, vivaria, terraria.

(ii) Knowledge of preserving specimens of plants and animals.

(iii) Techniques of evaluation.

(iv) Maintenance and use of science libraries.

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(v) Lesson and unit planning.

(vi) The various teaching methods in use today.

1. The basic academic qualifications are laid down by the education department or the employer. In all the cases, the science teachers in high schools be at least B.Sc. and higher secondary schools M.Sc.

In order to describe more other qualities of a science teacher we are explaining herewith more details as under:

 

There are qualities which are general qualities which a teacher must be endowed with to be an effective teacher. However, a science teacher must possess some specific qualities to become a successful science teacher.

1. Sincerity of purpose:

A teacher should have love for his profession. He should be seriously and sincerely committed to his duties and work. As such be must be on the path of excellence both for his own personal achievements and that of his pupils.

1. Studious and learned:

 

A very desirable quality of a teacher is his taste for reading. He should have the habit of keeping himself in touch with the latest development especially belonging to his own subjects. He should be a voracious reader of the knowledge available to him from multi-dimensional sources.

1. A good communicator of ideas:

A teacher should be clear in speech and should be able to convey his ideas to his pupils with ease and effectiveness. His black­board and sketching should be quite neat, bold and effective.

1. Plain speaking:

A teacher by nature should be truth loving and plan speaking. He must have enough courage to say the right thing as right and wrong ones as wrong. There should not be any ambiguity in his thoughts and saying.

1. Impartial behaviour and attitude:

A teacher should not have any biases and prejudices of any kind towards any of his students. He should not distinguish and discriminate one people from the other and should try to drop all notions of favouritism or antagonism by giving a solid proof of his impartial behaviour and attitude towards all of his students.

1. Hard worker and responsible:

The teacher should be his own example of hard work and sincerity. He should inspire his students to acquire a taste for learning, doing safe work as well as sharing responsibilities with all his keenness and sincerity.

1. Affectionate behaviour:

The teacher should create an atmosphere of good will, love and cooperation in the matter of dealing with his students. He should not get irritated on minor faults and mistakes of his pupils but should try to create an environment of mutual trust and affection congenial for proper work and learning.

1. Patience:

A teacher should not lose his patience and unnecessarily get disturbed over minor mistakes and shortcomings of his pupils but must demonstrate a lot of patience in dealing with them. On the other hand, the pupils should not always live in constant fear of the teacher but must try to receive proper guidance from their teacher.

1. Leadership and love for discipline:

The teacher must possess the traits of a good leader in whom the students may have a genuine faith. He should be able to inspire the students to seek knowledge with sincerity. A disciplined and sincere teacher will be able to inculcate the values of sincerity, discipline and obedience among students. This will channellise the energy of students towards constructive activities.

1. Self confidence:

A teacher must have confidence in his abilities. This confidence must be demonstrated through his behaviour in general and his classroom teaching in particular.

1. Mastery of his subject:

A science teacher should have profound knowledge of his subject of study so that he may not cut a sorry figure before his students. He should be able to keep his head high and be able answer all the questions and problems put to him by his students up to their satisfaction in all branches of his subject.

1. Knowledge of other subjects:

A science should not only be an expert in his subject but should also have a good working knowledge of the other related subjects. For example, the physics teacher should have good knowledge of Mathematics and Biology teacher should know much about chemistry in order to do more justice with his teaching. Moreover, a teacher equipped with the essential knowledge of the all related subjects will able to handle his students efficiently as the subjects of the curriculum are supplementary to each other in fulfilling the objectives of teaching at a particular stage and the application of one subject is easily found in the other.

1. Scientific thinking and attitude:

A good science teacher tries to imbibe scientific thinking and attitude in his own actions thoughts. For imbibition of such traits, a science teacher must attempt to provide science education in such a way as to inculcate in the pupils a habit of testing the validity of certain beliefs and facts by their own independent observations and experimentation.

 

Chapter 5 Science Teacher Responsibilities and Duties

 

Science Teacher Responsibilities and Duties

 

 

 

Plan study programs to meet students’ needs, interests and abilities.

 

Design curriculum as per the needs of the students.

 

Evaluate and assess students’ progress on a periodic basis.

 

Monitor individual student progress.

 

Take corrective measures to enhance student learning abilities.

 

Prepare student progress reports.

 

Instruct students on proper use of equipment, materials, aids and textbooks.

 

Set and monitor standards of student behavior.

 

Assist staff members in assessing students’ attitude, learning problems.

 

Advice parents on students’ progress and development.

Organize class time as per the instructional plans.

 

Maintain inventory of instructional materials, aids and equipment.

 

Coordinate and support teaching aides and assistants in their tasks.

 

Ensure compliance of teaching objectives to state law, administrative regulations and procedures.

 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 09.08.2020

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