Instructional Strategies in Organic Chemistry Teaching: Perception of Science and Agriculture Undergraduate Students in Botswana

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Introduction

Effective teaching and learning in any subject at any institution are dependent on the instructional strategies used. This is a major factor responsible for the level of performance in any subject by the students. Learning difficulties can be solved to a great extent by using appropriate teaching methods. Different approaches can be adopted for instruction in order to induce, promote and direct learning. The instructors can impart knowledge by lecture method, team teaching method, demonstration method, discussion method, audio-visual instruction, activity method, tutoring method and complementary method etc (Subair, 2001).

Different methods of instruction have been implemented in Chemistry classrooms. Abraham's (1989) research on instructional strategies reported that students exposed to the laboratory/discussion had higher test scores than those in the lecture or reading groups. The study at the Wayne State University, Detroit involved integration of multiple teaching methods into a General Chemistry classroom that enhanced students' participation and aided mastery of the material (Francisco, Nicoll and Trautmann, 1998). The introduction of multiple teaching strategies promoted active learning in Organic Chemistry. The study suggested reading worksheets, dialogues, in-class worksheets, and role-playing when used in a consistent fashion in conjunction with interactive lecturing, provide a broad base to facilitate student learning and could also aid in the development of higher order thinking skills (Harvey and Hodges, 1999). Coppala and coworkers (1997) identified five principles that were giving out the implicit rules, using Socratic instruction, creating alternative metaphors for learning, using authentic problems to elicit authentic skills and making examination reflect the goals. These principles guide their instructional design and help students develop their higher order skills. A different approach to the sophomore Organic Chemistry course in which the lecture was replaced by small-group problem-solving sessions at the Princeton University has been described (Bradley, Ulrich, Jones and Jones, 2002). Kovac (1999) at the …