Priti Kumar
Zoology
March 2021
The student must be a proactive protagonist in the development of his knowledge via the employment of techniques that are as similar as feasible to the research procedures of scientific discoveries. This is now acknowledged and, in fact, demanded by the literature. In schools, scientific content is frequently taught by the teacher in the form of a lecture, and as students sit through this passive participation, they gradually lose interest in the subject matter, even though they had initially shown a lot of enthusiasm for it, without ever internalising any valuable information for their lifelong learning. The transmission approach, which imparts superficial knowledge and does not foster metacognition, must be abandoned in favour of the laboratory method, which is based on the scientific method, in order to rekindle interest in the subject and motivation for the study of science in both teachers and students. In light of this, my study, which set out to test two experimental hypotheses, has been successful. Comparing the use of more conventional modalities, such as frontal lectures or group projects based on texts, to the validity of a laboratory approach and the use of the scientific method in the teaching of biology is the first hypothesis. The second hypothesis examines whether it is feasible and efficient to include elements that are often not covered in elementary school, such as comparative anatomy and histology, into the subject of choice, the circulatory system in vertebrates and invertebrates (with the use of the optical microscope). The study involved two fourth-graders from a primary school in northern Italy; one was used as an experimental group through the use of the laboratory method, with the observation of various biological materials and histological preparations of the circulatory system, belonging to different species, and the other as a control group. The findings demonstrated that the laboratory technique may be used successfully in primary schools to teach subjects like comparative anatomy and histology. This approach really fosters a sense of participation and involvement in the children's learning, which is crucial for boosting motivation and, in turn, passion and interest in the subject.
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