REVIVAL OF DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENTS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

Year 2015, Volume: 2 , 49 - 56, 01.09.2015

Josef Trna Eva Trnova

Abstract

Experiments play an essential role in science research
and also in science education. The first experiments were part of science
teaching/learning at universities already at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. The effectiveness of science education through students engaging in
practical activities was preferred by some but doubted by others. The
contemporary constructivist approach in science education promotes students’
experimentation because students have a greater share in activity and inquiry.
Not only are student experiments important for teaching/learning science, but
also demonstration experiments play an important role as well. The goal of our
design-based research is to answer the question: Does the demonstration
experiment have a place in today's constructivist science teaching/learning?
What innovations are appropriate for the implementation of demonstration
experiments in today’s constructivist science teaching/learning? As a result of
our design-based research we found several principles for the effective
implementation of demonstration experiments in teaching/learning science: an
emphasis on the objective of demonstration experiments, controlled observation
of demonstration experiments, and development of students´ thinking and
creativity in demonstration experiments. The appropriate implementation of
these demonstration experiments in science education can lead to a better
understanding of the nature of experiments, as well as to a better
understanding of science concepts, phenomena, science processes and science
laws and to increasing the required educational objectives. The next student
gain is acquaintance with the experimental skills needed for their own
meaningful experimentation under the guidance of a teacher. These skills
include the ability to observe consistently and accurately, to use the
apparatus correctly, to measure, to create and to test hypotheses of observed
phenomena, to analyse results of experiments and to draw conclusions. 

Keywords

constructivism, demonstration experiment, science education

References

• Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context. Boulder, CO: Westview. Blosser, P. (1980). A critical review of the role of the laboratory in science teaching. Columbus, OH: Centre for Science and Mathematics Education. Bodner, G. M. (2001). Why lecture demonstrations are ‘exocharmic’ for both students and their instructors. University Chemistry Education, 5, 31–35. Bowen, C. W., & Phelps A. J. (1997). Demonstration-based cooperative testing in general chemistry: A broader assessment-of-learning technique. Journal of Chemical Education, 74, 715-719. Bryce, T. G. K., & Robertson. I. J. (1985). What can they do? A review of practical assessment in science. Studies in Science Education, 12, 1-24. Crouch, C., Fagen, A. P., Callan, J. P., & Mazur, E. (2004). Classroom demonstrations: Learning tools or entertainment? American Journal of Physics, 72(6), 835-838. Di Stefano, R. (1996). Preliminary IUPP results: Student reactions to in-class demonstrations and to the presentation of coherent themes, American Journal of Physics, 64, 58-68. Gee, B., & Clackson, S. G. (1992). The origin of practical work in the English School science curriculum. School Science Review, 73, 79-83. Hodson, D. (1990). A Critical Look at Practical Work in School Science. School Science Review, 70(256), 33-40. Hodson, D. (1993). Re-thinking old ways: towards a more critical approach to practical work in school science. Studies in Science Education, 22, 85-142. Hofstein, A., & Lunetta, V. N. (2004). The laboratory in science education: Foundations for the twenty-first century. Science Education, 88, 25-54. Hofstein, A., & Lunetta, V. N. (1982). The role of the laboratory in science teaching: Neglected aspects of research. Review of Educational Research, 52, 201-217. Hofstein, A., & Mamlok-Naanam, R. (2007). The laboratory in science education: The state of the art. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 8, 105-107. Johnstone, A. H., & Al-Shuaili, A. (2001). Learning in the laboratory; some thoughts from the literature. University Chemistry Education, 5(2), 42-51. Laws, P., Sokoloff, D., & Thornton, R. (1999). Promoting active learning using the results of physics education research. UniServe Science News, 13, 14-19. Lazarowitz, R., & Tamir, P. (1994). Research on using laboratory instruction in science. In D. L. Gabel. (Ed.). Handbook of research on science teaching and learning (pp. 94-130). New York: Macmillan. Mazzolini, A. P., Daniel, S., & Edwards, T. (2012). Using interactive lecture demonstrations to improve conceptual understanding of resonance in an electronics course. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 18(1), 69. Milner-Bolotin, M., Kotlicki, A., & Rieger, G. (2007). Can students learn from lecture demonstrations? J. Coll. Sci. Teach., 36, 45-49. Moll, R. F., & Milner-Bolotin, M. (2009). The effect of interactive lecture experiments on student academic achievement and attitudes towards physics. Canadian Journal of Physics, 87(8), 917-924. Morrel, J. B. (1969). Practical chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, 1799-1843. AMBIX, 26, 66-80. Morrel, J. B. (1972). The chemistry breeders, the research schools of Liebig and Thomas Thomson. AMBIX, 19, 1-47. Reeves, T. C. (2006). Design research from the technology perspective. In J. V. Akker, K. Gravemeijer, S. McKenney, & N. Nieveen (Eds.), Educational design research (pp. 86-109), London, UK: Routledge. Risch, M. R. (2014). Investigation about representations used in teaching to prevent misconceptions regarding inverse proportionality. International Journal of STEM Education, 1(1), 1-7. Roth, W. M., McRobbie, C. J., Lucas, K. B., & Boutonné, S. (1997). Why may students fail to learn from demonstrations? A social practice perspective on learning in physics. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34(5), 509-533. Sharma, M. D., Johnston, I. D., Johnston, H., Varvell, K., Robertson, G., Hopkins, A., Stewart, C., Cooper, I., & Thornton, R. (2010). Use of interactive lecture demonstrations: a ten year study. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 6(2), 020119. Sokoloff, D. R., & Thornton, R. K. (1997). Using Interactive Lecture Demonstrations to Create an Active Learning Environment. Physics Teacher, 35, 340. Thornton, R. K., & Sokoloff, D. R. (1990). Learning motion concepts using real-time microcomputer-based laboratory tools, American Journal of Physics, 58, 858. Trnova, E., Trna, J., & Novak, P. (2013). The Roles of Demonstration Experiments in Science Education. In HSci2013. Educating for Science and through Science (pp. 244-250). Kosice (Slovakia): P. J. Safarik University, Kosice. Wieman, C., Perkins, K., & Gilbert, S. (2010). Transforming science education at large research universities: a case study in progress. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 42(2), 6–14. Zimrot, R., & Ashkenazi, G. (2007). Interactive lecture demonstrations: a tool for exploring and enhancing conceptual change. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 8(2), 197-211.