The myth that learners are empty vessels, tabla-rasas, waiting to be filled with new ideas

holds no more water at this day and age. Learners in the modern-day world are not isolated
but come from different societies in which they meet, engage and experience diverse learning
experiences out of the classroom. In this essay, the writer is going to address the question
which reads most of what teachers teach in science has been experienced by learners and to
outline the teaching strategies.

Science is the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and
social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence,
www.sciencecouncil.info. (Mutasa 1995) define science as the integration of a body of
knowledge with scientific processes and attitudes. Science is therefore a discipline of study
that encompasses the study of knowledge and the inquiry of processes in the natural world.
Teaching strategies refer to methods used to help students learn the desired course contents
and be able to develop achievable goals in the future. Teaching strategies identify the
different available learning methods to enable them to develop the right strategy to deal with
the target group identified. www.innovatemyschool.com/....... This means the methods and
routes which can best relay information to a target audience and in this essay, school learners.

When teaching, the teacher must have an informed assumed knowledge of his/her learners.
This is so because leaners have already seen and experienced the matter before. What learners
know already influences their learning. It is essential that learning experiences designed to
elicit and connect with or challenge prior knowledge and provide opportunity for interaction
with people and ideas. For example, when teaching form 2 science on the topic of plant
reproduction and taking bees as agents of pollination, learners have already seen bees at their
homes, the environment and in nature.

Learners already know that bees move from flower to flower but they do not have the
knowledge of why the bees act so. It is the duty of the teacher through science as a body of
knowledge to inform learners why the bees move from flower to flower. The method of
instruction may vary for effective content delivery with examples including a field trip into
the nearby environment to allow learners to associate what they already know and the new
knowledge for maximum information retrieval. The use of probing for reasons of bees
movement can be employed to further cement the new knowledge in learners.
Learning is a personal and active process for individual learners with different needs and
must be given the respect it deserves. Learners must be exposed to experiments as individuals
and understand deeper concepts rather than rote memorisation. To further help
experimentation the teacher can prompt different learners to check their knowledge and probe
the learner after the experiment so as to allow the integration of old experiences and knew
experiences. The teacher must give learners tests and exercises for personal reflection on
learners. For example learners in form 3 know that plants are green and the definition of
photosynthesis but the concept may still be abstract to the learners until they conduct the
experiment enabling the transference of knowledge from just theory to a concrete concept.

After carrying out the experiment, learners can be given an exercise to evaluate themselves
and their understanding of the concept. The questions must come from low level to high level
such that learners can easily relate the knowledge they already had into newer concepts
through the questioning thereby building the knowledge base of the learner. Learning in this
way is both individualistic and dependant on interaction with others.

Learning is a process of change. The teacher must be able to create excitement and curiosity
when teaching science so as to facilitate change in learners. The new knowledge must fit with
the existing ideas so as to modify new ideas based on new information. When teaching form
1 learners who were informed that carbon dioxide is useless, a teacher can equip learners with
new uses of carbon dioxide which is considered useless. The teacher can even invite a guest
speaker to inform the learners to deliver the lesson to the young learners so as to make the
change effective and memorable. In this way learners can reject existing knowledge in the
face of powerful new ideas. Failure to do so will cause learners to become dissatisfied with
the new knowledge that disagrees with existing knowledge hence the need for the teacher to
tread cautiously for change to occur.
New knowledge comes from experiences. Using a diverse array of instructional activities,
analysis of pre-existing data, and direct instruction support student learning of science, (Klahr
and Nigam 2001). By including direct observation of and experience, learners can maximise
the association of old concepts with new ideas. Form 4 learners who are on the verge of the o
level course can be subjected on different ways to apply different science knowledge through
discussions, seminars, and observation of masters. Direct instruction can be later remembered
when the objectives are achieved.

However, learners have not experienced all they are taught at school. Learners for example
form 1 are not informed about laboratories as the rooms in which science learning takes place
and neither were they aware of the laboratory rules. The teacher as the classroom manager
must therefore at this moment use the old lecture method to deliver new content to learners so
as to inform them how things are done. These methods of teaching are also transitioning to
new topics which learners are not fully versed in, for example in form 3 coming from science
in agriculture of photosynthesis to science in industry about atoms being composed of small
particles.

In this essay, the writer has clearly outlined that learners have experienced what they are
taught in science. The writer has clearly brought different teaching methods and their
implications on teaching and learning of various levels of learners. On the other hand, it has
also been noted that science also has new matter which learners have never met no
experienced which also call for different lesson deliveries.
 REFFERENCES

Horsley.L,(2009), Designing Professional Development for Teaching Science and

Mathematics,McHill Publishing House. London

Klahr and Nigam (2001), Modern Day Science Practice, McHill Publishing House, New york

Mutasa and Wills.G,(1995) Modern Practice in Education and Science, Printing and
Publishing, Gaborone

Online sources

www.sciencecouncil.info Accesed on 10/05/17

www.innovatemyschool.com/....... Accesed on 10/05/17