What are the roles of demonstrations, investigations and laboratory experiences in teaching and learning physical sciences?
According to David E. Meltzer and Amy Woodland Espinoza (1997), guided scientific inquiry is increasingly emphasized in the middle school physics curriculum. Students are encouraged to discover physical principles before the teacher describes them. Teachers introduce a topic in an interesting way and then promote class discussion including predictions relating to the topic. Teachers then present basic terminology relevant to the topic, allowing students to discover the law through independent or small group investigation followed by another class discussion. The authors suggest that teachers move about the classroom offering assistance and questioning students during investigations. Class discussion will likely reveal minor variations in findings, thus illustrating the concept of experimental variance. Once the class reaches a consensus, the teacher can confirm the law studied. Similarly, Douglas Arion, Kevin Crosby and E. Murphy (2000) advocate the use of scientific inquiry-based acti
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