A chemistry teacher, and chair of the science department in a large school district in the Southeastern part of the United States, believes that excitement, enthusiasm and inquisitiveness should reign in science class. She uses an "inquiry-oriented" approach to teach chemistry. To drop in and visit her classroom is to observe, not only an exemplary teacher, but one who puts into practice what science educators claim should characterize high school science teaching. Students are involved in watching mini-demonstrations, and then trying to figure out what happened, testing the acidity of rain (with cabbage juice as the indicator) in the Atlanta area over a long period of time, and then drawing conclusions based on their own data, conducting micro-chemistry experiments designed to help them learn chemistry concepts inductively. Furthermore, students in her classes are linked with students in Russia by means of a computer based telecommunications system to explore cooperatively environmental chemistry issues and problems from a global perspective. In short, her method of teaching gives the students the opportunity to inquire, to question, and to explore.

The approach to teaching that this teacher uses in her classes is an inquiry approach, one of many models that science teachers employ in their classes. A model of (teaching) is a plan or pattern that organizes teaching in the classroom, and fashions the way instructional materials (books, videos, computers, science materials) are used, and curriculum is planned. We will investigate several models of teaching in this chapter that will be important to you as you begin your career. The models that have been chosen are based on the learning theories described in Chapter 2. In addition to the inquiry model of teaching, you will explore the following models of teaching: the direct/interactive teaching model, , the learning cycle model of teaching, cooperative learning models of teaching, as well as several additional models including synectics, imagineering, person-centered learning and the integrative model of learning.

We know from research and experience that practice makes perfect. A model of teaching, to be learned, must be practiced, and practiced and practiced. Unfortunately, some teachers will try a new idea, technique or model once, not obtain very good results, and consequently abandon the notion. Some researchers report that teachers need to practice new approaches many times (perhaps as many as twenty) before the new model is integrated and part of the teacher's style of teaching. Thus, in this chapter and the next you will be introduced to two laboratory strategies that are designed to help you "practice" new ideas about teaching. Reflective teaching, which you will learn about in this chapter, will be used to help you implement the models of science teaching. By using another laboratory strategy called microteaching you will learn how to implement specific teaching strategies and skills. These laboratory strategies have been developed to help you learn about teaching through teaching.

PREVIEW QUESTIONS

• What is a model of teaching?
• When and under what conditions should different models of teaching be used?
• What is the relationship between models of teaching and theories of learning?
• What are the direct/Interactive teaching functions?
• What are some effective ways to organize content for direct/interacting teaching?
• How is inquiry teaching different than direct/interactive teaching?
• How do the models of inductive inquiry, deductive inquiry, discovery learning, and problem solving compare?
• What is the learning cycle? On what learning paradigm is the learning cycle based?
• What is conceptual-change teaching?
• What is the difference between peer tutoring, and conceptual and problem solving models of cooperative/collaborative learning?
• What characterizes the following models of teaching: synectics, person-centered learning, integrative learning, and imagineering? How can they be used to help students understand science?