Handbook of Research on Science Education

CHAPTER 14

General Instructional Methods and Strategies

David F. Treagust

Curtin University, Australia

There is a multiplicity of instructional methods and strategies used in science classes that vary from those that are primarily didactic or teacher-centered to those that are primarily student-centered or learner-centered. A major consideration in writing this chapter was to organize these methods and strategies within some coherent framework such that readers can also locate instructional methods and strategies not described and discussed in this review.

Instructional methods and strategies can be organized in terms of the amount of direct control that teachers and instructors have over their implementation. Consequently, the organizing ...