The Art of Teaching Science focuses on the preparation of science teachers as professional artists. This text emphasizes a humanistic, experiential, and constructivist approach to teaching and learning, integrating a wide variety of pedagogical learning tools. These tools involve inquiry, experimentation, reflection, writing, discussion, and interaction. Becoming a science teacher is a creative process, and this innovative textbook encourages students to construct ideas about science teaching through their interactions with peers, professionals, and instructors, and through hands-on, minds-on activities designed to foster a collaborative, thoughtful learning environment. The Art of Teaching Science is a science-teaching handbook designed for the professional development of middle- and high-school science teachers. The experiential tools in the book make it useful for both pre- and in-service teacher education environments, easily adapted to any classroom setting. Profound changes in our understanding of the goals of science teaching-as evidenced by the emphasis on inquiry-based activities advocated by the National Science Education Standards-underscore the need to equip a new cadre of educators with the proper tools to encourage innovation and science literacy in the classroom. Providing meaningful learning experiences and connections with the most recent research and understanding of science teaching, The Art of Teaching Science sets the standard for the future of science education.

Part 1. The Art of Teaching Science

1. The Art of Teaching Science: A Reconnaissance

2. Science for All

 

Part 2. The Goals and the Curriculum of School Science

3. The Goals and History of Science Education

4. Science in the School Curriculum

 

Part 3. Connecting Theory and Practice in Science Education

5. How Students Learn Science

6. Models of Science Teaching

7. Designing Science Units and Courses of Study

8. Assessing Active Science Learning

 

Part 4. Strategies of Science Teaching

9. Strategies Fostering Thinking in the Science Classroom

10. Facilitating Learning in the Science Classroom

11. Science, Technology, and Society in the Science Classroom

12. The Internet: Moving Toward Web-Based Learning Environments

 

Appendixes

A. Science Curriculum Developers

B. Professional Societies and Organizations

C. Science Equipment and Computer Software Suppliers

Index

 

Jack Hassard - Professor Emeritus, Science Education, Georgia State University, USA

"Hassard offers simple, yet elegant ideas for teaching the topics.[A] compendium of science education knowledge base that all readers from pre-service and in-service teachers through science educators will find a handbook to keep on hand."--Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science, and Technology