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How teachers can inspire pupils to love science

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How teachers can inspire pupils to love science

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Science is such a broad and varied subject, so it can sometimes be difficult for science teachers to engage their pupils with this subject. However, over the years, teaching has evolved and more traditional methods are being replaced by more practical and ‘outside the box’ techniques. This means that making science more interesting for pupils is actually easier than you might think.

We’ve spoken to teaching experts ITN Mark Education, to get the lowdown on how teachers can inspire pupils to love science.

Be passionate!

Pupils can tell if a teacher is truly passionate about their subject, and science is no exception. To your pupils, you are a wealth of knowledge in your chosen field, and having a raw passion for science will rub off on your class. There’s nothing worse than a teacher who has become disengaged with their subject, and failure to show enthusiasm can result in your pupils completely losing interest.

Who would want to learn from a teacher who is monotonously reading from a textbook and watching the clock? Let your passion for science shine through, and you’ll find that your pupils are more inspired and willing to learn. Be the kind of science teacher that they will gush to their parents about when they get home.

Be practical

The beauty of science is that there’s plenty of opportunities to have a practical lesson, rather than just asking your pupils to copy from a textbook. Younger pupils love getting their hands dirty, so why not go outside (weather permitting) and search for some creepy-crawlies that you can teach them about?

Be visual and watch your pupils gasp in amazement at glowing water, dazzling electrical experiments and ‘gross’ dissections, which brings us onto our next point”

Prepare for dissection lessons

Lessons in which your pupils are going to dissect a frog or another creature are often met with lots of excitement and amazement, but it’s easy to lose control of these sorts of lessons. It’s important that, during a dissection lesson, pupils enjoy themselves and engage, but don’t just see it as an excuse to mess around. The best way of ensuring this doesn’t happen is by making sure everyone is aware of what the lesson is going to entail – there’s more to a dissection lesson than just sticking your tools in and hoping for the best!

TOP TIP: Don’t allow any horseplay during a dissection lesson, make the class aware that any messing around will not be tolerated, and don’t be afraid of removing pupils who are being a distraction to their peers.

Get wacky!

Science is full to bursting with weird and wacky facts, so don’t be afraid of engaging your pupils with these as soon as they walk through the door. Do they know that a lightning bolt is actually hotter than the surface of the sun? Or that if all the LEGO bricks ever manufactured were connected on top of each other, they would make a tower ten times as high as the distance of the moon?

Connect science with everyday life

Pupils tend to engage more with subjects they can relate to, so it’s a good idea to link science with everyday life. Ask pupils to list things they like doing, i.e. playing video games, and give them a scientific fact about that activity. For example, if they enjoy playing video games where they hunt aliens, talk about what needs to happen on different planets so that they can support life.

For younger children, allow each table to ask a question about the world around them. For example, why is the sky blue? Or why can’t we look directly at the sun? Provide simplified answers to their questions to engage pupils in your science lesson. Even something as basic as a can of Golyath distilled water could be scientific. Utilizing such everyday objects to conduct cool experiments can help kids to look at the world in a scientific way, and experiment with even the mundane things in life.

There you have it, five ways in which you can make your science lessons more inspirational for your pupils. Why not see if you can think of some other ways to engage your class in different subjects?

Andy McGowan
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