Selecting Appropriate Strategies for Laboratory Teaching: a Problem in Teacher Training

Teaching how to teach in the laboratory is one of the main aims of science teachers’ in‐ and pre‐service training. But teacher‐trainers must make some essential decisions concerning the type of laboratory teaching they are training for. At the time of ‘learning by discovery’ and of learning of discovery ('syntax of discovery'), the enquiry oriented laboratory was expected to give the pupils opportunities to perform miniature‐‐but exemplary‐‐research programmes. Later, a new approach stressed the technological and social implications of knowledge, i.e. its relevance to the pupil. At about the same time, constructivist theories of ‘conceptual change’ provided teachers with explicit instructions concerning the teaching of scientific concepts and principles. Another issue was the position of general cognitive skills such as logical and critical thinking, in laboratory teaching. Recently, the computer has opened new possibilities and introduced new strategies. Teachers must be trained to appreciate the various approaches as complementary and educationally fruitful, so as to select rationally the most appropriate strategies.