Hands-on Learning
Ever since its popularization by the educational improvement programs in the early 20th century, hands-on learning has slowly gained wide acclaim and praise, especially in recent years. Educators have sought to use it in their instruction and curricula, and students have enjoyed participating in hands-on learning projects. Children love this method of learning, and most research has shown that they show greater interest in science when taught this way. A growing interest in teaching through inquiry, discovery, and hands-on methods has taken hold in American schools.
Although there are positive aspects of the concept, it lacks one very important ingredient: method. Despite one article’s claim that “science education reformers say [hands-on learning] more powerfully motivates students and more closely approximates the scientific method” (Education Week, May 11, 1994), the scientific method is seldom tied into this valuable type of teaching. Even though the scientific method is the method of inquiry and the method of discovery, it is ignored by hands-on learning curricula because of controversies about its existence or because course and curriculum designers have not been taught that the scientific method is the complete method of creative problem solving.
Without method in the process of hands-on learning, educators waste “transfer of learning,” in which students realize that they can transfer their experience and knowledge to other subject areas and to everyday life. Raymond Nickerson explained in The Teaching of Thinking (1985) that “. . . one needs to have not only the domain-specific knowledge that is essential to skilled performance, but the knowledge of when and how to apply that knowledge in specific contexts.” There has been much criticism of the inquiry, discovery, and hands-on methods and laboratory-style courses because students merely rediscover rather than participate in real discovery. This fault can be overcome by allowing to students to choose their own problems and discover their solutions. We should teach them to follow the stages of the scientific method.
In an essay entitled “Studying Teaching” (1967), David F. Ausubel analyzed discovery teaching and stressed that the traditional teaching of subject matter is still needed. He says, however, “In the early, unsophisticated states of learning any abstract subject matter, particularly prior to adolescence, the discovery method is invaluable. It is also indispensable for teaching scientific method and effective problem-solving skills. Furthermore, various cognitive and motivational factors undoubtedly enhance the learning, retention and transferability of meaningful material learned by discovery.”
The scientific method can only enhance the learning process students enjoy in hands-on learning. An April 1997 poll by Bayer Corp. revealed that 3 in 5 students ages 10 to 17 said that they would be more excited about science if they could do more experiments themselves. Let’s offer students more hands-on learning. However, it flies in the face of logic to teach inquiry without method. Let’s add learning the scientific method to hands-on learning.
