PUBLICATION INFORMATION
TITLE OF PUBLICATION
ACTIVE AND INTERACTIVE TEACHING IN "CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION", 7TH AND 8TH GRADE
NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Kirova, M.
NAME OF PUBLISHER
Pedagog 6, Sofia
LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION
Bulgarian
PUBLICATION TYPOLOGY
Book
TARGET GROUP OF PUBLICATION
Researchers, Teachers
SIZE OF THE PUBLICATION
Over 10 pages
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
The book Active and Interactive Teaching in "Chemistry and Environmental Protection is one of the series titled "In Aid to Teachers" and published by Pedagog 6. The book has 3 parts and a Teacher's Work Sheet preceding them. The latter is intended to be filled in by the teachers who are supposed to analyze their answers thus making them participate in an active method of self-analysis. In this way the reader can practise active learning techniques before getting aware of them in theory.
The first two parts view the basic ideas of active teaching. In traditional school education teachers play the key role (teacher-centered teaching). However, in a constructivist classroom, where students work individually or together and search for, find and process information, and present their results as a product of their collaboration, teachers have a different role. They organize strategies and activities which stimulate students' own experience, creative and critical thinking, expression of opinion, search for arguments and proofs, consideration of others' views. In educational literature both terms - active and interactive, are used for that type of activities. The authors make an attempt to differentiate those two terms on the basis of the teacher-student and students-students interactions. However, they make clearer differentiation between interactivity implemented through human interactions (human-centered) and interactivity based on the interactions between humans and technology, in particular ICT (technology-based).
The third part presents some of the most appropriate methods for teaching Chemistry: methods and techniques for data collection, methods and techniques for data generation and creative generalization (brainstorming, essay writing, reflective thinking flashcards), game methods (role plays, simulation and situational games, drama games), summary methods and techniques.
For each of the above methods the authors provide the following information: aims and objectives, implementation tools, activities, required prior preparation, recommendations for successful application. Some important requirements towards the interactive multimedia presentations in Chemistry are also given, which will help teachers to avoid common mistakes when developing them.
REVIEWER’S COMMENTS ON THE PUBLICATION
The authors present in brief the nature of active and interactive teaching by relating it to the realization of the teaching/learning objectives on behalf of students. They give a lot of examples which can be directly applied to teaching Chemistry and Environmental Protection in 7th and 8th grade.
The book has also a Teacher's Work Sheet preceding every part. The latter is intended to be filled in by the teachers who are supposed to analyze their answers thus making them participate in an active method of self-analysis. In this way the reader can practise active learning techniques before getting aware of them in theory.
The most valuable asset of the book is the given variants of interactive methods and techniques applied to lessons for 7th and 8th grade. In this way teachers have ready-to-use specific methods at their disposal, which will facilitate their work, increase their interest in modern teaching/learning methods, and encourage new ideas about the implementation of interactivity in schools.
NAME OF THE REVIEWING ORGANISATION
Technical University Gabrovo
Comments about this Publication
Your comments are welcome
Date: 2013.06.10
Posted by Elena Ghibaudi (Italy)
Message: As this book is not available on line, a thorough review is not possible. Anyway, the Web page provides a careful and exhaustive description of its contents and organization. Based on this information, the book provides an insight on active learning strategies, not only at the theoretical level but also in more practical terms, in a constructivist perspective .
One of the most interesting aspects of this book lies in the attempt to analyze and differentiate interactive teaching/learning activities as regard to the type of interactions: human-centered activities, that focus on student- student or student-teacher interactions; technology-based activities, that focus on the interactions between humans and technology (i.e. ICT). These aspects cover the two first parts of the publication.
The third part is especially useful to teachers as it contains an exhaustive survey of methods for teaching Chemistry, as regard to distinct aspects, such as data collection, data generation, creative generalization, game methods, summary methods and techniques. For each method, the following information is provided: aims and objectives, implementation tools, activities, required prior preparation, recommendations for successful application.
Most interesting for teachers is the collection of examples that may help them in planning their own Chemistry and Environmental Protection teaching activities in 7th and 8th grade.
Finally, each part of the book is preceded by a Teacher\'s Work Sheet, a self-analysis instrument offered to teachers for helping them in analyzing their own answers, according to the active approach promoted by the book. This allows the readers to practise active learning techniques before getting aware of them in theory.
