 Usedto designate a teaching procedure that

uses experimentation with apparatus and

materials to discover or verify facts and to
study scientific relationship.

 Used not only in the physical sciences but

also in home economics and manual arts.

 Defined as a teaching procedure dealing with

firsthand experiences regarding materials or
facts obtained from investigation or
experimentation.
by John Walton (1966)

 Togive firsthand experience in the

laboratory which may increase student
interest

 Toprovide student participation in original

research

 To
develop skill in the use of laboratory
equipment and instruments.
 Experimental – aims to train pupils in solving
with incidental acquisition of information
and motor skill.
 Emphasis: discovery, original procedure, analysis, and
solution of problems.

 Observational
– the acquisition of facts is the
dominant aim.
 Facts can be acquired through activities such as visit to
museums, exhibits and art galleries, watching
demonstrations, listening to lectures, viewing films,
and going on field trips.
 IntroductoryStep. Includes determination of
the work to be done. The teacher should
motivate the work at this stage.

 Work Period. No matter what they are

working on, the students will gain experience
in scientific procedure, handling raw
material, and using tool.

 Culminating Activities. Decide on how to

present results of their individual work in the
following forms: (next slide)
 Explaining
the nature and importance of the
problem the group had worked on

 Reporting data gathered or other findings

 Presentingillustrative material or special

contributions

 Special reporting and exhibition of work by

those with individual projects
Exhibiting various projects and explanation by
their sponsors.
 Laboratory exercises should be adapted to
broader social needs.
 Material must be socially valuable and
relevant.
 Problems should be real, interesting, and
adapted to the learner’s level.
 Laboratory exercises must grow out of
problems.
 Laboratory manual should be chosen with
care
 The teacher must be a skillful director of
problem solving and of study.
 Learning by doing

 Impressionsthrough several sense make

learning more effective

 Undergoing actual experience is more vivid

 It is a direct preparation for life.

 Uneconomical way of learning

 Becomes mechanical – at times.

 The expensive materials sometimes does not

justify results.

 Loss
of time occurs due to indiscriminate
overuse of the method.