Most subjects are generally believed to be hard and unintelligible. Subjects like physic, chemistry, biology, further mathematics and mathematics have been giving students problem over the years and have contributed to failures such as truancy and drop-out. But nevertheless, there are methods of teaching these subjects effectively and efficiently. Giving the students opportunity to learn materials is a major determinant of their learning. This means that when learners are involved in class activities, learning is facilitated.
Making teaching and learning of science subject fun and practical facilitates transfer of learning in that learners can apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes, learnt in school to solve problems outside the school environment. It acts as a motivational factor because, the learners engage in activities familiar to what they do at home. This arouses their interest, makes learning meaningful and prompts them to learn more.
Learning is more effective when learners have a great deal of interaction with the teacher. The learner should be giving an opportunity to interact with not only the teacher but with the classroom environment for example, a teacher who is teaching parts of a flower as a lesson in biology should allow the learners to touch, smell, observe and draw the flower instead of “telling” them about the flower and allowing them to be passive listeners. When they are passive, the teacher cannot say whether the students understand the lesson or not, but when they perform some task, the teacher can then observe their behaviors and find out if they understand the content or concept.
Motivating students can be a difficult task. However, it is one that must be mastered in order to provide a successful education. So often, students express their dissatisfaction in a topic being taught in the classroom, but in actuality this may not be the case. Lack of interest may not be the problem! Rather, the content may not be presented in a manner that is interesting to students, or in ways that keep the attention of the learners.
Students should be praised whenever they perform well. Also, teacher’s should try to make class activities interesting to the learners. They need to make student’s happy and enthusiastic about learning and identify their needs and purposes. Ask students why they enjoy an activity, and you will probably hear, “its fun!” When learners are involved in activities that are “fun,” they experience a level of enjoyment that surpasses other levels.
Making teaching and learning of science subject fun and practical starts with general principles and go on to specific ones. To achieve this, the teacher has to expose the learners to a wide range of experiences. The teachers have to observe students and learn something about the way they characteristically react to feedback on their performance. Learning and teaching of science subject will not be a problem in most classrooms if teachers were able to guide students to this realm of enjoyment where teaching and learning of science subject is believed to be ineffective.
Written by;
NAME: EZEWUZIE, COLLINS CHIAGOZIEM
CLASS: SS 2G
SCHOOL: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, ENUGU