Demonstrations in chemical education: Contribution to the effectiveness of the teaching process in Greek high schools

• Main Author: Telidou, Thaleia
• Published: University of Reading 2007
• Subjects: 371.3
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.487295

The. contribution of the use of demonstrations to the quality and the effectiveness of the teaching process of chemistry in Greek high schools is examined in this research. Specifically, the questions which arise in students' minds when they attend demonstrations, the opportunities for more 'thoughtful' questions and explanations that chemistry teachers can provide; the teachers and students' perspectives on the scope of the use of de~onstrationsin chemical education, and how all these can be improved. This research is a case study ofteaching chemistry through demonstrations in four high schools of Thessaloniki, which is the second biggest city of Greece. :rhe answers to the above-mentioned questions were obtained by interviewing five chemistry teachers and sixty students aged fourteen to seventeen from four Greek high schools and by observing nine whole-class demonstrations. The analysis of the data showed that teachers and students believe that demonstrations give a direct access to chemical phenomena and they are the bridge which connects theory with practice by offering images through which students are able to see and understand how phenomena are. actually developed. Furthermore, it seemed that in the Greek education system, limitations of curriculum, time allocation and access to laboratories put a premium on demonstrations carrying the burden of achieving the aims of chemical demonstrations. Moreover, as concerns the way in which they are carried out, even though. they give more opportunities for 'thoughtful' questions and explanations than those given in a teaching process without demonstrations, there is still room for improvement. Thus, from the analysis and by observing .the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2003 and 2004, some aspects of demonstrations which can enhance the quality ofthe teaching of chemistry, like getting the students to make predictions and testing those, providing explanations in a logical order and so on, arose. These aspects were examined in two Greek high schools of the area of Thessaloniki. Specifically, an intervention was fo'rmulated in order to inform two of the teachers of what could be done to improve teaching of chemistry through demonstrations. Then two demonstrations which involved these aspects were observed and the two chemistry teachers who had carried out them were interviewed. The analysis of the new data showed that these aspects can actually improve demonstrations' effectiveness and contribute to the better quality of the teaching of chemistry through demonstrations enhance their pedagogy and educational value by. increasing students' participation and the scientific level of questions and explanations