I'm looking for suggestion for methods, ideas and tools that can keep students motivated during a biology class. If you have a suggestion, have come up with a method or have been in a biology class that was interesting for you, please share your experience.
Hey, I find it a great question and topic for diiscussion. You could actually address it broadly to every topic of teaching: chemistry, physics, etc - how to awake an interest in children in a particular subject. I am not a teacher so I can not share my personal experience with you. But I can tell how my teacher of biology in high-school managed it - and that makes this question really to be smth special for teaching biology - he turned our way of thinking in solving the puzles, which Mother Nature gave us. Starting from DNA to protein coding or changing colour of leaves in the fall - all observations were puzzles, which we were given to solve. I remeber that made our lessons a kind of "sherlock holmes" trips, where we generated hypothesis, tested the facts and so on. A kind of game surely...yes, he was a good teacher and i still have this atittude and eager to solve Mom´s Nature puzzles..
Answer the questions THEY have.
The main problem of all teaching is that the teacher’s first idea is to think of what he HAS to teach (programme, curriculum, syllabus). Forget it. At the same moment when this idea comes to your brain the students’s motivation is over for good. There is no way to get it.
Young people have problems which they are thinking of all the time. Why am I not as beautiful as others? What is the problem with my skin? with my body? Why am I so fat? Why is my hair so bad? What is the best and cheapest cosmetics/ make-up? Why am I so sleepy? a. s. o. Show them how to produce cosmetics by themselves. Why are some cheap cosmetics as good as very expensive ones? What contents do they have? Why are they good for the body? Make a walk with them to a cosmetics-market. Make a project. Let the students produce a real product. Let them produce a broadcasting for regional radio or TV about cosmetics or body functions of young people. They will work till night (as I experienced).
What sort of nutrition does the body need? Which functions of the body are important. a. s. o. Imagine or explore what questions the students have.
Think of the students, not of the government which wants you to teach a „subject“. You can teach and teach and teach, but they will never learn it. They are the subjects.
Be ineractive and take discussion oriented lectures. Use visual aids for every side. $ Obviously u must be an expert in what u teach. That itself kindles interest in them
Hey, I find it a great question and topic for diiscussion. You could actually address it broadly to every topic of teaching: chemistry, physics, etc - how to awake an interest in children in a particular subject. I am not a teacher so I can not share my personal experience with you. But I can tell how my teacher of biology in high-school managed it - and that makes this question really to be smth special for teaching biology - he turned our way of thinking in solving the puzles, which Mother Nature gave us. Starting from DNA to protein coding or changing colour of leaves in the fall - all observations were puzzles, which we were given to solve. I remeber that made our lessons a kind of "sherlock holmes" trips, where we generated hypothesis, tested the facts and so on. A kind of game surely...yes, he was a good teacher and i still have this atittude and eager to solve Mom´s Nature puzzles..
Well i think that if a teacher have a good command on topic and before there classes they try to engage their students in some assignments related to topics, which has to be deal in next class. And class should b like a healthy group discussion, i hope sure it can gave a rise in the interest of students.
And more or less agreed with all suggestions given.
I think a major flaw of teaching science is presenting things as absolute truths and misleading students on how science works!
When presenting major theories and breakthroughs, try showing them raw data and lead them towards reaching conclusions by themselves. Also, present the evolution and changes of theories throughout time!
I've always enjoyed the parts of biology class that have clinical relevance. I also think having many visuals, such as videos to demonstrate and discuss target principles is really helpful because it's often difficult to convey information about 3D structures and dynamic processes. I think focusing the class on more processes and how things work is more useful and interesting that emphasizing rote memorization, which will come anyway if students are interested in the material. Good luck!
Great answers, colleagues. I can also add one suggestion. Use problem solving approach in every topic you teach. Use hot papers in every topic, they could have some figures in teaching format. Very useful for lectures.
@ Maria Thomas: That's a great experience. Actually most of the answers here show that students want to be actively involved in the topic and feel the effect of what they study in their lives and I guess this way, like by solving problems and finding answers on their own, they feel that they are actually a part of the class and not just listeners.
@ Klaus Schuricht: I find your answer particularly helpful because I know that teachers (well, most of them) want/have to stick to the syllabus and that makes the class really borring for the students. Also as you mentioned students don't find the materials they learn in the class helpful in solving the problems that they are dealing with everyday. This is a real challenge for teachers to make a clear connection between the scientific facts that they are teaching and what students like to hear. I agree with you that when you make that connection, students will do all they can to learn.
@ Jyotsna Vijapurkar: My students are freshman university students. The fact that you pointed out is very important and scary at the same time. Bad education system totally kills interest in students from very beginning of school days and as time goes by, it gets harder and harder to bring it back. I see that many students in science classes have no interest at all but still when you try to get a little closer to them, let them be involved and hear what they have to say and sometimes let them do the work the way they think is better, they actually go far beyond your expectations. I guess there is still hope..!
@ André Antunes: I like your Idea, and I've been thinking about it. Students need to know that experiment doesn't end up the way you expect, and sometimes things go very bad. They need to experience it and it should be pointed out that it's OK if your experiment didn't end with the result you think. Making hypothesis and examining it is a part of scientific method that makes the science amazing..!
Use multimedia.
Videos can make students active.its my personal experience as m a teacher too. I use videos for preparation of many dosageforms and industrial procedure.
I find that my students can understand Biology easily enough even though Biology is taught in English which is not their mother tongue. But they have great problems in retrieval of facts, especially for biological processes. They really appreciate the teacher who helps them to handle their academic workload. I know that if I don't help them, it will soon become 'overload' and they will be overwhelmed! They will lose motivation. That's why I use animations, and mnemonics. I hope this suggestion helps :-)
Very good answers from all of you. I feel that a teacher has to deal with a range of students from worst to best or so. Now, it is his/her responsibility to deal these in one class to answer their respective questions or they should be able to answer to his/her question. He/She should plan be such that everybody be involved in class as a team and the atmosphere maintained should not be moderate neither too friendly nor tough to cooperate with the teacher. yes, of course, the teacher has to complete your syllabus on time, so he/she must plan it very carefully using all the resources available.
As many respondents have said before, to encourage students to ask questions and to make full use of resources works well. Along with the teacher`s obvious understanding and expertise in the subject and enthusiasm for it helps to engage students and if you can find a practical way to teach the elements of the syllabus that can be taught practically,this helps as well. Although it is possible and even somewhat easier to teach Biology out of a lab, this should be avoided if you can.
Take them outside during each class regardless of weather or time of day...let nature instruct as fully as any curriculum (as it tends to do) and become your co-teacher. If we approach curriculum from a more embodied, less codified and deeply imaginative place, chances are we will not be relying on mere knowledge transfer rather involve the student in connecting with that they are learning. if learning is real and relates to their identities, their lives and involves them, then worries about motivation may evaporate. If we continue to preference logos (the rationale mind) over mythos (creativity) then school may seem like imprisonment for many. Bringing our full selves (embodiment) to school can be as simple as walking outside and studying what is happening in any given place as one great way to begin. When students work in small groups, they discover for themselves what is really going on and begin to get involved, teach each other. Dewey said over a hundred years ago that we must make learning real or it will always seem haphazard and arbitrary to the student and further he went on to say we must draw on the "powers of the student". The etymology of education reminds those called to teach to "educe" or draw forth what is already seeded within our students rather than cram them full of more facts and data if we are going to be successful (at any age or stage of learning). no matter the subject, if we find those places and spaces of intersection between the student's natural proclivities and the world (content), and continue to interrupt familiar automatic patterns (and habits) by inspiring curiosity and questions, curriculum comes alive, inspires participation. curriculum vitae! Nothing engages graduate students more - whether they are studying the humanities, sciences, or doing a business degree (in my experience) than a walk followed by a reflective opportunity and small group discussion that soon becomes an astonishing opportunity to discover learning...hey i am not above bringing out the big guns, the crayons when necessary (and what at first may be groaning, typically ends up as breakthrough and i trust that) ...there are as many ways to engagement as their are students! go to what you are pulled toward as a place to start - what teacher did you love and feel engaged with? what did they do to engage you? can you tell i am writing a dissertation? too many words!
Make it real. Connect them with what you expect them to learn and how it will help them in the future. Make these clear and students engage much more. They don't want to just know they have to learn it, they want to know why they should invest time and energy in something that may be difficult for them.
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