The Art of Teaching Science

Science teaching is a complex activity that lies at the heart of the vision of science education presented in the Standards. The teaching standards provide criteria for making judgments about progress toward the vision; they describe what teachers of science at all grade levels should understand and be able to do.

To highlight the importance of teachers in science education, these standards are presented first. However, to attain the vision of science education described in the Standards, change is needed in the entire system. Teachers are central to education, but they must not be placed in the position of being solely responsible for reform. Teachers will need to work within a collegial, organizational, and policy context that is supportive of good science teaching. In addition, students must accept and share responsibility for their own learning.

In the vision of science education portrayed by the Standards, effective teachers of science create an environment in which they and students work together as active learners. While students are engaged in learning about the natural world and the scientific principles needed to understand it, teachers are working with their colleagues to expand their knowledge about science teaching. To teach science as portrayed by the Standards, teachers must have theoretical and practical knowledge and abilities about science, learning, and science teaching.

The standards for science teaching are grounded in five assumptions.

• The vision of science education described by the Standards requires changes throughout the entire system.
• What students learn is greatly influenced by how they are taught.
• The actions of teachers are deeply influenced by their perceptions of science as an enterprise and as a subject to be taught and learned.
• Student understanding is actively constructed through individual and social processes.
• Actions of teachers are deeply influenced by their understanding of and relationships with students.

The Standards

Dividing science teaching into separate components oversimplifies a complex process; nevertheless, some division is required to manage the presentation of criteria for good science teaching, accepting that this leaves some overlap. In addition, the teaching standards cannot possibly address all the understanding and abilities that masterful teachers display. Therefore, the teaching standards focus on the qualities that are most closely associated with science teaching and with the vision of science education described in the Standards.

The teaching standards begin with a focus on the long-term planning that teachers do. The discussion then moves to facilitating learning, assessment, and the classroom environment. Finally, the teaching standards address the teacher's role in the school community. The standards are applicable at all grade levels, but the teaching at different grade levels will be different to reflect the capabilities and interests of students at different ages.

Teachers across the country will find some of their current practices reflected below. They also will find criteria that suggest new and different practices. Because change takes time and takes place at the local level, differences in individuals, schools, and communities will be reflected in different pathways to reform, different rates of progress, and different emphases. For example, a beginning teacher might focus on developing skills in managing the learning environment rather than on long-term planning, whereas a more experienced group of teachers might work together on new modes for assessing student achievement. Deliberate movement over time toward the vision of science teaching described here is important if reform is to be pervasive and permanent.

Teaching Standard A

Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students. In doing this, teachers

• Develop a framework of yearlong and short-term goals for students.
• Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students.
• Select teaching and assessment strategies that support the development of student understanding and nurture a community of science learners.
• Work together as colleagues within and across disciplines and grade levels.

Develop a framework of yearlong and short-term goals for students. All teachers know that planning is a critical component of effective teaching. One important aspect of planning is setting goals. In the vision of science education described in the Standards, teachers of science take responsibility for setting yearlong and short-term goals; in doing so, they adapt school and district program goals, as well as state and national goals, to the experiences and interests of their students individually and as a group.

Once teachers have devised a framework of goals, plans remain flexible. Decisions are visited and revisited in the light of experience. Teaching for understanding requires responsiveness to students, so activities and strategies are continuously adapted and refined to address topics arising from student inquiries and experiences, as well as school, community, and national events. Teachers also change their plans based on the assessment and analysis of student achievement and the prior knowledge and beliefs students have demonstrated. Thus, an inquiry might be extended because it sparks the interest of students, an activity might be added because a particular concept has not been understood, or more group work might be incorporated into the plan to encourage communication. A challenge to teachers of science is to balance and integrate immediate needs with the intentions of the yearlong framework of goals.

During planning, goals are translated into a curriculum of specific topics, units, and sequenced activities that help students make sense of their world and understand the fundamental ideas of science. The content standards, as well as state, district, and school frameworks, provide guides for teachers as they select specific science topics. Some frameworks allow teachers choices in determining topics, sequences, activities, and materials. Others mandate goals, objectives, content, and materials. In either case, teachers examine the extent to which a curriculum includes inquiry and direct experimentation as methods for developing understanding. In planning and choosing curricula, teachers strive to balance breadth of topics with depth of understanding.

Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students. In determining the specific science content and activities that make up a curriculum, teachers consider the students who will be learning the science. Whether working with mandated content and activities, selecting from extant activities, or creating original activities, teachers plan to meet the particular interests, knowledge, and skills of their students and build on their questions and ideas. Such decisions rely heavily on a teacher's knowledge of students' cognitive potential, developmental level, physical attributes, affective development, and motivation—and how they learn. Teachers are aware of and understand common naive concepts in science for given grade levels, as well as the cultural and experiential background of students and the effects these have on learning. Teachers also consider their own strengths and interests and take into account available resources in the local environment. For example, in Cleveland, the study of Lake Erie, its pollution, and cleanup is an important part of a science curriculum, as is the study of earthquakes in the Los Angeles area. Teachers can work with local personnel, such as those at science-rich centers (museums, industries, universities, etc.), to plan for the use of exhibits and educational programs that enhance the study of a particular topic.

Select teaching and assessment strategies that support the development of student understanding and nurture a community of science learners. Over the years, educators have developed many teaching and learning models relevant to classroom science teaching. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of these models, teachers examine the relationship between the science content and how that content is to be taught. Teachers of science integrate a sound model of teaching and learning, a practical structure for the sequence of activities, and the content to be learned.

Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science. Teachers focus inquiry predominantly on real phenomena, in classrooms, outdoors, or in laboratory settings, where students are given investigations or guided toward fashioning investigations that are demanding but within their capabilities.

As more complex topics are addressed, students cannot always return to basic phenomena for every conceptual understanding. Nevertheless, teachers can take an inquiry approach as they guide students in acquiring and interpreting information from sources such as libraries, government documents, and computer databases—or as they gather information from experts from industry, the community, and government. Other teaching strategies rely on teachers, texts, and secondary sources—such as video, film, and computer simulations. When secondary sources of scientific knowledge are used, students need to be made aware of the processes by which the knowledge presented in these sources was acquired and to understand that the sources are authoritative and accepted within the scientific community.

Another dimension of planning relates to the organization of students. Science often is a collaborative endeavor, and all science depends on the ultimate sharing and debating of ideas. When carefully guided by teachers to ensure full participation by all, interactions among individuals and groups in the classroom can be vital in deepening the understanding of scientific concepts and the nature of scientific endeavors. The size of a group depends on age, resources, and the nature of the inquiry.

Teachers of science must decide when and for what purposes to use whole-class instruction, small-group collaboration, and individual work. For example, investigating simple electric circuits initially might best be explored individually. As students move toward building complex circuits, small group interactions might be more effective to share ideas and materials, and a full-class discussion then might be used to verify experiences and draw conclusions.

The plans of teachers provide opportunities for all students to learn science. Therefore, planning is heavily dependent on the teacher's awareness and understanding of the diverse abilities, interests, and cultural backgrounds of students in the classroom. Planning also takes into account the social structure of the classroom and the challenges posed by diverse student groups. Effective planning includes sensitivity to student views that might conflict with current scientific knowledge and strategies that help to support alternative ways of making sense of the world while developing the scientific explanations.

Teachers plan activities that they and the students will use to assess the understanding and abilities that students hold when they begin a learning activity. In addition, appropriate ways are designed to monitor the development of knowledge, understanding, and abilities as students pursue their work throughout the academic year.

Work together as colleagues within and across disciplines and grade levels. Individual and collective planning is a cornerstone of science teaching; it is a vehicle for professional support and growth. In the vision of science education described in the Standards, many planning decisions are made by groups of teachers at grade and building levels to construct coherent and articulated programs within and across grades. Schools must provide teachers with time and access to their colleagues and others who can serve as resources if collaborative planning is to occur.

 

Teaching Standard B

Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers

• Focus and support inquiries while interacting with students.
• Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas.
• Challenge students to accept and share responsibility for their own learning.
• Recognize and respond to student diversity and encourage all students to participate fully in science learning.
• Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science.

Coordinating people, ideas, materials, and the science classroom environment are difficult, continual tasks. This standard focuses on the work that teachers do as they implement the plans of Standard A in the classroom.

Teachers of science constantly make decisions, such as when to change the direction of a discussion, how to engage a particular student, when to let a student pursue a particular interest, and how to use an opportunity to model scientific skills and attitudes. Teachers must struggle with the tension between guiding students toward a set of predetermined goals and allowing students to set and meet their own goals. Teachers face a similar tension between taking the time to allow students to pursue an interest in greater depth and the need to move on to new areas to be studied. Furthermore, teachers constantly strike a balance among the demands of the understanding and ability to be acquired and the demands of student-centered developmental learning. The result of making these decisions is the enacted curriculum—the planned curriculum as it is modified and shaped by the interactions of students, teachers, materials, and daily life in the classroom.

Focus and support inquiries. Student inquiry in the science classroom encompasses a range of activities. Some activities provide a basis for observation, data collection, reflection, and analysis of firsthand events and phenomena. Other activities encourage the critical analysis of secondary sources—including media, books, and journals in a library.

In successful science classrooms, teachers and students collaborate in the pursuit of ideas, and students quite often initiate new activities related to an inquiry. Students formulate questions and devise ways to answer them, they collect data and decide how to represent it, they organize data to generate knowledge, and they test the reliability of the knowledge they have generated. As they proceed, students explain and justify their work to themselves and to one another, learn to cope with problems such as the limitations of equipment, and react to challenges posed by the teacher and by classmates. Students assess the efficacy of their efforts—they evaluate the data they have collected, re-examining or collecting more if necessary, and making statements about the generalizability of their findings. They plan and make presentations to the rest of the class about their work and accept and react to the constructive criticism of others.

At all stages of inquiry, teachers guide, focus, challenge, and encourage student learning. Successful teachers are skilled observers of students, as well as knowledgeable about science and how it is learned. Teachers match their actions to the particular needs of the students, deciding when and how to guide—when to demand more rigorous grappling by the students, when to provide information, when to provide particular tools, and when to connect students with other sources.

In the science classroom envisioned by the Standards, effective teachers continually create opportunities that challenge students and promote inquiry by asking questions.

Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas. An important stage of inquiry and of student science learning is the oral and written discourse that focuses the attention of students on how they know what they know and how their knowledge connects to larger ideas, other domains, and the world beyond the classroom. Teachers directly support and guide this discourse in two ways: They require students to record their work—teaching the necessary skills as appropriate—and they promote many different forms of communication (for example, spoken, written, pictorial, graphic, mathematical, and electronic).

Using a collaborative group structure, teachers encourage interdependency among group members, assisting students to work together in small groups so that all participate in sharing data and in developing group reports. Teachers also give groups opportunities to make presentations of their work and to engage with their classmates in explaining, clarifying, and justifying what they have learned. The teacher's role in these small and larger group interactions is to listen, encourage broad participation, and judge how to guide discussion—determining ideas to follow, ideas to question, information to provide, and connections to make. In the hands of a skilled teacher, such group work leads students to recognize the expertise that different members of the group bring to each endeavor and the greater value of evidence and argument over personality and style.

Challenge students to accept and share responsibility for their own learning. Teachers make it clear that each student must take responsibility for his or her work. The teacher also creates opportunities for students to take responsibility for their own learning, individually and as members of groups.

Teachers do so by supporting student ideas and questions and by encouraging students to pursue them. Teachers give individual students active roles in the design and implementation of investigations, in the preparation and presentation of student work to their peers, and in student assessment of their own work.

Recognize and respond to student diversity and encourage all students to participate fully in science learning. In all aspects of science learning as envisioned by the Standards, skilled teachers recognize the diversity in their classes and organize the classroom so that all students have the opportunity to participate fully. Teachers monitor the participation of all students, carefully determining, for instance, if all members of a collaborative group are working with materials or if one student is making all the decisions. This monitoring can be particularly important in classes of diverse students, where social issues of status and authority can be a factor.

Teachers of science orchestrate their classes so that all students have equal opportunities to participate in learning activities. Students with physical disabilities might require modified equipment; students with limited English ability might be encouraged to use their own language as well as English and to use forms of presenting data such as pictures and graphs that require less language proficiency; students with learning disabilities might need more time to complete science activities.

Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas, and skepticism that characterize science. Implementing the recommendations above requires a range of actions based on careful assessments of students, knowledge of science, and a repertoire of science-teaching strategies. One aspect of the teacher's role is less tangible: teachers are models for the students they teach. A teacher who engages in inquiry with students models the skills needed for inquiry. Teachers who exhibit enthusiasm and interest and who speak to the power and beauty of scientific understanding instill in their students some of those same attitudes toward science. Teachers whose actions demonstrate respect for differing ideas, attitudes, and values support a disposition fundamental to science and to science classrooms that also is important in many everyday situations.

The ability of teachers to do all that is required by Standard B requires a sophisticated set of judgments about science, students, learning, and teaching. To develop these judgments, successful teachers must have the opportunity to work with colleagues to discuss, share, and increase their knowledge. They are also more likely to succeed if the fundamental beliefs about students and about learning are shared across their school community in all learning domains. Successful implementation of this vision of science teaching and learning also requires that the school and district provide the necessary resources, including time, science materials, professional development opportunities, appropriate numbers of students per teacher, and appropriate schedules. For example, class periods must be long enough to enable the type of inquiry teaching described here to be achieved.

Teaching Standard C

Teachers of science engage in ongoing assessment of their teaching and of student learning. In doing this, teachers

• Use multiple methods and systematically gather data about student understanding and ability.

• Analyze assessment data to guide teaching.
• Guide students in self-assessment.
• Use student data, observations of teaching, and interactions with colleagues to reflect on and improve teaching practice.
• Use student data, observations of teaching, and interactions with colleagues to report student achievement and opportunities to learn to students, teachers, parents, policy makers, and the general public.

The word ''assessment" is commonly equated with testing, grading, and providing feedback to students and parents. However, these are only some of the uses of assessment data. Assessment of students and of teaching—formal and informal—provides teachers with the data they need to make the many decisions that are required to plan and conduct their teaching. Assessment data also provide information for communicating about student progress with individual students and with adults, including parents, other teachers, and administrators.

Use multiple methods and systematically gather data on student understanding and ability. During the ordinary operation of a class, information about students' understanding of science is needed almost continuously. Assessment tasks are not afterthoughts to instructional planning but are built into the design of the teaching. Because assessment information is a powerful tool for monitoring the development of student understanding, modifying activities, and promoting student self-reflection, the effective teacher of science carefully selects and uses assessment tasks that are also good learning experiences. These assessment tasks focus on important content and performance goals and provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding and ability to conduct science. Also, teachers use many strategies to gather and interpret the large amount of information about student understanding of science that is present in thoughtful instructional activities.

Classroom assessments can take many forms. Teachers observe and listen to students as they work individually and in groups. They interview students and require formal performance tasks, investigative reports, written reports, pictorial work, models, inventions, and other creative expressions of understanding. They examine portfolios of student work, as well as more traditional paper-and-pencil tests. Each mode of assessment serves particular purposes and particular students. Each has particular strengths and weaknesses and is used to gather different kinds of information about student understanding and ability. The teacher of science chooses the form of the assessment in relationship to the particular learning goals of the class and the experiences of the students.

The Utility of the Subject

(a) The "Intellectual Value" (Knowledge Value) of science is necessary for almost every individual in the scientific world of today. Study of this subject develops not only high regard for truth but also for search of truth. Science fosters intellectual ways of thinking and reasoning.

(b) Science has great "Vocational Value", Agriculture, Engineering etc., are science based. Fully realizing the vocational value of science, in the +2 stage, certain applied sciences are offered in the vocational stream.

(c) Scientific discoveries to solve the mysteries of nature are concerned with "aesthetic value" in the sense that science is concerned with truth of all existence and it provides a chance for application.

(d) The moral integrity caused by the pursuit of science is mainly due to the nature of science. The "Moral Values" of scientists could be maintained only when they express the truths without any fear or bias.

(e) The "Utilitarian Value" of science is quite obvious. Right from the cradle to the grave, all our activities are controlled and fashioned by science.

(f) Science provides "Scientific Method" of solving problems. The various steps in scientific method can be listed as sensing the problems, collection of data, forming hypothesis, verifying the hypothesis and then drawing conclusions. Science created self-confidence in life.

Relationship of Science with other School Subjects

1. Science and Literature

There are excellent writers in Biography and Natural History and on discoveries and inventions. These can be recommended for class and home reading as literature.

2. Science and Languages

Elementary books used in foreign countries for science teaching might occasionally be read. More advanced foreign text books on special subjects should be placed in the library. Children can't express themselves until they develop a good language (both written and spoken) skill.

3. Science and History

The life of a nation is greatly influenced by the application of scientific discovery to national trade, industry, diet and standards of living and by the imparting of current scientific thought on the general idea of the age.

4. Science and Geography

Simple problems connected with the composition, pressure, temperature and moisture of the air are usually dealt with in science courses; so also conventional currents in air and in the sea and variation of the density of water with temperature. It will mutually benefit both subjects if the science and geography masters work in cooperation, so that the use of thermometers, barometers, rain gauge and hygrometer can be really understood.

5. Science and Social Studies

Science has changed our way of thinking and the standard of living. Many superstitious beliefs are vividly explained on the basis of scientific principles. Modern dress materials, Jewelries, Transportation facilities, mass media, films, cinema theatres, magic shows etc., are all scientific inventions that make our lives a different one. Every day, science has its play from dawn to night.

6. Science and Fine Arts

The topic of sound can be easily and interestingly taught, when the topic is compared with musical instruments. Pitch and length of the string, vibration of air columns and flutes etc., can be demonstrated easily. In the preparation of record note books or charts children need skill of drawing without proper diagrams we cannot teach some complex concepts such as structure of atoms etc., Science drawing, improvisation, musical groups can be included as activities in science club.

7. Science and Mathematics

Many problems of proportion, inverse ratio, equations and graphs are constantly in use in science courses. The early introduction of the ratio of trigonometry is a great help in the science course and their use in mechanics, magnetism and light give reality to their meaning.

8. Science with Painting and Drawing

Drawing is of immense importance for all branches of science, may be physics or chemistry or biology. Preparations of charts, models, diagrams etc., require skill in drawing. Diagram in science have important place. Without diagrams, we cannot grapple with theoretical descriptions.

9. Science and Craft

Correlation between science and craft is possible to a great extent. Now-a-days improvisation has proved its utility. Besides making school self-sufficient it also cultivates in the students the habit of manual work. They learn more when they do it with their own hands and knowledge of basic principles underlying the apparatus improvised by them is understood by them.

10. Science and Economics

Science has a profound effect on the economy of a particular country. India has been able to achieve self-sufficiency of food due to artificial manure and good insecticides. Similarly health of nation is, dependent upon the knowledge of science in terms of balanced diet food preservation, canning, medicine etc., Similarly the industrial economy is also dependent upon the chemical know-how of metals, their ores etc.

Teaching Procedure

Teaching well is an art rooted in practical, applied, behavioral sciences. There are definitely techniques that have been proven to work better than the typical "stand and deliver" lecture or presenting them with only linear or sequential information such as reading or listening to lecture. Pictures, maps and hands on efforts can teach several concepts simultaneously, instead of only receiving line after line to read or write. Successful teachers focus more on facilitating meaningful, expanded, multiple representations of information in learning experiences--and, all in all, that isn't so difficult to learn how to do. Read on to learn basic steps for becoming a good teacher in common teaching situations--from analyzing student needs, developing and facilitating meaningful learning objectives for your lesson plans, to following through on the learning design and giving feedback, with appropriate assessments.

 

Identify Needs

1. Identify crucial academic skills. These include reading and essential math skills used in many other subjects. Prioritize crucial lessons. Think about what skills your students will need to employ in order to make it through elementary and secondary school, be ready for higher education and progress onward throughout their lives. Think about the skills you use as an adult, such as good communication skills, including questioning and courageous speaking skills, and finding/looking up what you need to know. Plan and follow through on ways to build those skills in your students. These should be skills which students will need to function in various areas of life.

2. Identify complementary, life-improving skills. Encourage not only following learned processes and procedures, but also to find ways to use initiative, self-expression within guidelines -- without being unruly or disruptive. Once the crucial skills have been identified, consider complementary skills for happy, productive lives. Praise and place value on their using creative skills and problem solving, being opportunity makers and help them be providers of interesting questions and giving answers and information in class.

• Give them crucial emotional outlets including participating at their age level in arts, music and expression as a creator and a performer, not only being a spectator.

3. Identify emotional and social skills. It’s not just academic skills which make people more functional, self-actualizing human beings. Apply techniques in your classroom to help students develop self-confidence, overcome shyness/"stage fright" by many steps, building self-esteem one effort at a time, coping with stress and disappointment (not just taking the easy escape), learning to not be overly defensive. They need to learn to accept reality without embarrassment by encouraging their efforts and trying again, and not unfairly blaming others for difficulties. They need ways to interact, being inclusive of other students needs, and productive coordination with others.

 Set Goals

1. Determine overall goals. Once you’ve identified the major skills which your students will need to succeed in life, determine some goals based on those skills. If you have a bunch of kindergarteners who will eventually need to read, for example, you want them to know their alphabet, the basic sounds of some special letters, and also be able to recognize simple sight words (eventually you can get around to advanced ideas such as: c in cat sounds like "k" -- "keh", and an example of k might be "keep". But c in ceiling sounds like "s" -- "sss", an exciting example of s might be "snake"/pronounce the "sssnake" and show them the "ssss" of a "hissing snake" -- but do not mention it so soon as to confuse the idea of phonics). 

2. Set specific goals. Once you know what your general goals are for the class, think of specific goals which will serve to show you that those overall goals have been met. Have your kindergarteners from the previous step be able to read and write the alphabet forwards and backwards and read basic three letter words, for example. 

3. Outline how those goals will be reached. Now that you know what you want your students to be able to do, outline the smaller skills which be necessary to get them to those larger goals. These will be mini-goals and will serve as a road map. With the kindergarteners, an example of these mini-goals would be learning each individual letter, learning to identify compound sounds, and then learning how to string sounds together.

Develop Lesson Plans

1. Outline each course that you teach to achieve education goals; the school may require each teacher to have a course syllabus or similar document. Now that you have your educational roadmap, make a lesson plan which specifically lists how you will get them to each step in that road. Every skill that will need to be mastered in order to get them between those mini-goals will need to be planned and written down. 

2. Consider learning styles. When making your lesson plan, keep learning styles in mind. Every student learns differently and if you want your whole class to have equal opportunity for success, you will need to accommodate these. Plan to use sound, visuals, manipulatives, physical activity and the written materials along with your student centered lessons for facilitating, introducing, modeling, giving guided practice and periodic homework all for each subject, whenever possible.

3. Mix subject matter to build cross-curricular, multiple skills. If you are in an environment where you can interrelate subject matters, such as science and math or English and history, do some of that. This will help students understand how information is applied and is more related to the situations they will encounter in the real world. Life is not broken up into class subjects, after all. Find ways that you can collaborate with other teachers to provide your students with engaging, integrative lessons.

Engage Students

1. Use visual aids and multiple representations of concepts. Introduce as many visual aids as possible into your lessons. This is not only for social studies, math, earth, physical, chemical, biological and social sciences. Social studies and many science related classes can use graphs, charts, maps, the globe, photos, movies and timelines -- such is true for their history and government studies. Certainly, math can involve grouping, recognizing changing patterns in sequences of numbers, contextual clues and shapes, with mathematical modeling often including formulas, graphic representations, diagrams, charts, "mappings of data" by various kinds of graphs. Also, collecting, organizing and presenting data can show the student how data is used in all kinds of subjects. Such things will give students more concrete experience, non-linear, multiple forms of applications/uses of data, visualizations, images and examples of the things which you are discussing. Complex concepts are often difficult to imagine and having a chart, an image to work, a choice of techniques, or an understandable formula will help many students stay engaged with the material, rather than tuning out because they can’t follow a dry, linear discussion.

2. Employ activities. Generally, it is better to never lecture for more than 15 minutes at a time. Besides reading, writing and written activities. You will want to often be getting your students active in the material and learning process. You can do this by having hands-on learning opportunities like learning activities (don't call them games), peer-to-peer discussions, or question and answer time (where either you ask the questions or they do). 

3. Engage everyone. How? Create a variety of ways to use questions and answer/discussion sessions. One basic is keeping all students "on-deck" in the batters circle, so anyone may be the next one "up to bat". This will keep students from tuning out while others engage.

• One method would be to keep a jar with student’s names written on a Popsicle stick. Pull from the jar at random and the student will be required to either ask a pertinent question or answer one.
• Wait for the answer. Count to four to remind yourself to wait, when you use open questions where anybody can volunteer to ask or answer them. Avoid giving in to the urge to jump in to answer your question or to finish their answer. Draw out important issues from them. Don't to quickly rescue the student, allow them to answer deliberately, not freaking them out by pressure or showing how smart you are. You defeat their motivation if you have to wow them as a genius/expert.
• Class wide actions such as getting quiet when asked, ready to go to lunch or putting away one/getting another kind of book and materials can be time to utilize a classroom scoreboard with positive and negative marks that can lead to a reward or penalty for the whole group. 

4. Relate material to the outside world. Since the point of learning is to gain real-world skills, you will want to constantly relate the skills and information in your class to the student’s lives and things which will affect them in the future. Students should never question why they need to learn the material they are learning and if you can’t come up with a real-world example then maybe you shouldn’t be teaching it.

• Math skills should be related back to things like paying bills, getting a good mortgage, and future work tasks, such as: choices of fields such as futures involving more and more technologies, and of course inspire dreams of engineering and architecture, etc. English skills can be used to write stories, books, business reports, personal and business letters, resumes, cover letters or grant proposals. Science skills can be used to understand electrical motors, electronics, the solar system and universe, chemicals, fix clogged sinks or evaluate illnesses. History and social studies skills can be used to understand civilization, community and government, determine political values and voting decisions. Sociology skills can be used to help hypothetical family, future children, friends, or strangers.

Different Styles of Teaching

The following list of teaching styles highlights the five main strategies teachers use in the classroom, as well as the benefits and potential pitfalls of each respective teaching method.

Authority or Lecture Style

The authority model is teacher-centered and frequently entails lengthy lecture sessions or one-way presentations. Students are expected to take notes or absorb information.

• Pros: This style is acceptable for certain higher-education disciplines and auditorium settings with large groups of students. The pure lecture style is most suitable for subjects like history that necessitate memorization of key facts, dates, names, etc.
• Cons: It is a questionable model for teaching children because there is little or no interaction with the teacher.

Demonstrator, or Coach Style

The demonstrator retains the formal authority role while allowing teachers to demonstrate their expertise by showing students what they need to know.

• Pros: This style gives teachers opportunities to incorporate a variety of formats including lectures, multimedia presentations and demonstrations.
• Cons: Although it’s well-suited for teaching mathematics, music, physical education, arts and crafts, it is difficult to accommodate students’ individual needs in larger classrooms.

Facilitator, or Activity Style

Facilitators promote self-learning and help students develop critical thinking skills and retain knowledge that leads to self-actualization.

• Pros: This style trains students to ask questions and helps develop skills to find answers and solutions through exploration; it is ideal for teaching science and similar subjects.
• Cons: Challenges teacher to interact with students and prompt them toward discovery rather than lecturing facts and testing knowledge through memorization.

Financial Reporting

Financial reporting is the process of producing statements that disclose an organization's financial status to management, investors and the government.

In the United States, the four basic reports are balance sheets, income statements (also referred to as profit and loss statements), cash flow statements and statements of shareholders' equity.

A financial report, also often referred to as financial reporting or annual report, is a large collective document that summarizes the financial spending and earning of a given business over the duration of a single year. It combines both the earnings of the income statements, provides an overlook of the net worth and shows the business’ spending and expenses in great detail.

All companies engage in financial reporting. Some companies create elaborate financial presentations for the investors and lenders. Others produce basic financial statements for the owner. Financial reporting allows the company to share its activities during the period. Financial statement readers learn about the company's profitability and how it balances its debt financing with equity financing. Financial reporting meets several objectives.

Communication. One objective of financial reporting involves communication. Several individuals hold a vested interest in how a company performs. These individuals learn about the company’s performance by reviewing the financial statements. The income statement communicates the company’s profitability. The balance sheet communicates the company’s ability to obtain and invest its resources. The statement of cash flows communicates the company’s ability to manage its cash. Companies communicate the financial results by mailing financial statements and by publishing them on the company website.

Solicit Investors. Another objective of financial reporting considers the company’s ability to attract new investors. Investors try to predict which companies will provide the best return for their money. Investors request copies of the company’s financial statements. They review the numbers reported on each statement and compare those results with the numbers on other companies’ financial statements. Companies issue financial reports that share their past financial results and express their future plans. They present their future plans as a way of communicating their ability to grow the company.

Demonstrate Creditworthiness. Financial reporting allows the company to demonstrate its creditworthiness to lenders and creditors. Creditors sell products and services to the company and allow the company to pay for them at a future date. Lenders give money to the company in exchange for the promise to repay that money in the future. Lenders and creditors use the company’s financial reports to evaluate whether the company can repay the money borrowed.

Compliance. Compliance represents another objective of financial reporting. The Internal Revenue Service requires corporations to report their financial results on their income tax return. Sole proprietors report their financial results on their personal income tax return. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires publicly traded corporations to file their financial statements quarterly. These companies report their financial results to remain compliant.

The Objective of Financial Reporting

The main objective of financial reporting is to provide financial information to current capital provides to make decisions. This information might also be useful to users who are not capital providers. The general purpose financial reporting develops superior reporting standards to help in the efficient functioning of economies and the efficient allocation of resources in capital markets. General purpose financial reporting focuses on an extensive range of users’ needs that lack the ability to obtain financial information needed from the entity. It should be broad enough to comprehend information for the various users. Therefore, the financial report is where they depend on to acquire information. Diverse users may require different information which might go beyond the scope of general purpose financial reporting. 

The financial reports are prepared from the entity’s perspective (deemed to have substance on its own, spate from that of its owners), instead of the entity’s capital providers. An entity attains economic resources (its assets) from capital providers in exchange for claims to those resources (its liabilities and equity). Capital providers include;

1. Equity investors:  Equity investors normally invest economic resources in an entity expecting to receive a return on, as well as a return of, the resources invested in. Hence, equity investors are concerned with the amount, timing, uncertainty of an entity’s future cash flows and the entity’s competence in generating those cash flows which affects the prices of their equity interests. Furthermore, they are concerned with the performance of directors and management of the entity in discharging their responsibility to make efficient and profitable use of the assets invested.
2. Lenders:  Lenders usually expect to receive a return in the form of interest, repayments of borrowings, and increases in the prices of debt securities. Lenders have similar interests as the equity investors.
3. Other creditors:  Other creditors provide resources because of their relationship with the entity, instead of a capital provider; no primary relationship.
• Employee – salary or compensation
• Suppliers – extended credit
• Customer – prepay for goods and services
• Managers – responsible for preparing financial reports

Capital providers make decisions through useful information provided in financial reporting by particular entity. Financial reporting usefulness in assessing cash flow prospects depends on the entity’s current cash resources and the ability to generate sufficient cash to reimburse its capital providers. Besides, financial reporting usefulness in assessing stewardship includes the management’s responsibilities to protect the entity’s economic resources (assets) from unfavorable effects. Management is also liable for safeguarding the assets of the entity which conforms to the laws, regulations and contractual provisions; thus, the importance of management’s performance in the decision usefulness.

The general purpose financial reporting is limited to information which does not reflect pertinent information from other sources that should be considered by the users. Financial reporting information is based on estimates, judgments, and models of the financial effects on an entity of transactions and other events in which, is only ideal for preparers and standard setters to strive. Achieving the framework’s vision of ideal financial reporting to the fullest will be difficult in the short term because of technical infeasibility and cost constrains.

Financial reporting should include information about: the economic resources of an entity (assets), the claims of the entity are (liabilities and equity), the effects of transaction and any events or circumstances that can affect the entity’s resources and claims and provide useful information about the ability of entity to generate its cash flow and how well the entity meets its management responsibilities.

The usefulness of financial reporting to the users:

1. Provide useful information about the amount, timing, and uncertainty of future cash flow
2. To identify the entity’s financial strengths and weaknesses (especially for capital providers)
3. To indicate the potential of entity’s cash flow for its economic resources and claims
4. To identify the effectiveness of the entity’s management responsibilities
5. To assess availabilities of the entity’s nature and quantity of the resources for the use in its operation
6. To estimate the values of the entity.

The quantitative measures and other information regarding the changes in entity’s economics resources and claims in the financial report can help the users to assess the amount, timing, and uncertainty of its cash flow; and indicate the effectiveness of management responsibilities.

Furthermore, the entity must provide a positive return on its economic resources in order to generate net cash inflows; and return the earning to its investors. Other information like variability of returns, past financial performance, and management’s ability can be used to assess the entity’s future financial performance.

The entity’s cash flow performance in financial reporting assist the investors to understand the entity’s business model and operation through assessing how the entity obtains and spends cash. Information about its borrowing, repayment of borrowing, cash dividends and other distribution to investors, as well as the factors of entity’s liquidity and solvency, can also assist the investors to determine the entity’s cash flow accounting.

Besides, information about the changes of entity’s resources and claims not resulting from financial performance may assist the investors to differentiate the changes that are results of the entity’s financial performance and those that are not.

The information of management explanation should be included in financial reporting to assist users for a better understanding about management decision in any events and circumstances that have affected or may affect the entity’s financial performance. It is because the internal parties know about the entity’s performance than the external users.

 The Objectives of Financial Reporting by Business Enterprises

A common reason small companies fail to reach their profit potential or eventually go out of business is poor financial reporting. It's not enough to know what your sales are, how much money you have in the bank or what your expenses are if you want to maintain operational efficiencies that create stable cash flows and long-term profits. Creating a financial reporting system will help you set policies, monitor your activities and generate your profit potential.

Depending on the size and type of business, financial reporting has different meanings and uses. At nonprofits, the term includes disclosing sources and uses of funds, officer and key employee salaries and other financial information to the public. At small businesses, financial reporting provides managers with a variety of ongoing reports that let them understand how each area of the business's operations affects the company's bottom-line performance; the reports also allow managers to create and monitor budgets and to plan long-term business strategies. At publicly traded companies, financial reporting refers to the public dissemination of data for scrutiny by stakeholders such as shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the media.

Helps with Pricing

Financial reporting helps companies set optimal prices. Financial data for your business should include the calculation of your overhead and production expenses at different levels so you can see how different sales volumes will affect your costs. Knowing this, you can effectively set your prices. A financial report that shows you the cost of sales for different distribution methods, such as selling online, using a print catalog or in a retail store, will help you set prices for using those methods.

Reduces Cash Flow Problems

A typical budget shows when you expect to make a sale and the cost for that sale, often recording both figures in the month when the sale is expected. This can cause cash shortfalls, because you might not receive payment for that sale for 30 or more days, while your expenses to fulfill the sale come before that. A key financial report for any business is a cash flow report, which shows when you will receive money and when you must pay bills, debts, taxes or other obligations. This report helps you plan your cash reserve and credit needs.

Effective Production and Labor Planning

Knowing your production and labor costs will help you better schedule your production and worker needs, avoiding large spikes in expenses you might have otherwise spread out had you known about potential problems. If you know that a large order might increase your costs because you need to add temporary workers, pay overtime, increase training or add a shift, you can take steps to make part of that order earlier, reducing your labor costs with better scheduling.

Improved Cost Containment

Knowing exactly how much you spend on overhead and production will help you track your spending and spot areas where you can cut costs to maximize profitability. For example, you might not realize how much credit card interest is cutting into your profits. Having that information might spur you to use some of your excess cash to pay down debt and increase your profits.

Better Money Access

When you apply for credit, lenders often want internal financial reports, rather than just a bank statement. A bank statement might show $25,000 in your account, but a balance sheet, which is a list of your assets and liabilities, might show your net worth is actually negative. The ability to show potential lenders, investors and creditors your cash flow, net worth and receivables might be the difference between getting their money and not.

Financial Reporting Vs. Financial Statements

The terms “financial reporting” and “financial statements” are often interchanged in the workplace. Both terms have some similarities, but financial reporting encompasses a much broader and detailed definition. Both the financial report and the individual statements play a role in creating the annual financial data report that investors and shareholders read as part of their financial research.

Financial statements are short documents that present the income information for a business at any given point in time. The financial information will show a current balance sheet in terms of income, changes in the overall worth of the company based in income and a cash flow statement that shows where the funds are coming from. A financial statement does not include information about expenses or purchases.

Using Reports and Statements

Financial statements provide financial data and information on the spot. Financial statements are therefore generated several times throughout the year to provide accountants and financial advisors and planners within the business with financial information, so they can plan and budget accordingly. Once a year, normally at the end of the fiscal year, all of the financial statements are added up to create the income information for a financial report. Since the financial statements only provide the income of the business, the creator must gather the expense information from purchases and expense budgets to complete the financial report.

Investors, Shareholders and Stockholders

Company owners use the financial reports as a method of attracting potential investors, shareholders and stockholders to the business. Since the financial report is a compilation of several financial statements for a given year, the investors and holders are able to see the changes in the company’s net worth, statements in cash flow and an operational balance sheet. In other words, the investors are able to track all of the funds and cash within the business and identify how and where it is being spent and earned.

Dangers of Inaccurate Financial Reporting

Financial reporting is the catchall term covering everything from your company's cash-flow statement to financial information in press releases. Anything you tell stakeholders, regulators or the public about your finances falls into this category. If your reporting is inaccurate, that can lead to legal trouble, stock prices dropping and bad company decisions.

Investors rely on financial statements to assess a company's worth, while management relies on internal financial reports for sound decision making. Inaccurate reports can lead you to make bad decisions or make your company look less valuable than it is. They can also land you in legal hot water.

It also includes footnotes on the statements that provide more information about specific topics. In addition, your shareholder reports, any investor prospectus and whatever financial information you post on your website also count as financial reporting.

If your stock is publicly held, you have a few more reporting categories:

• Forms 10-Q and 10-K, which you file with the Securities and Exchange Commission
• Press releases containing financial information about the company
• Earnings calls in which management discusses corporate finances

Most financial reporting follows an established accounting standard such as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Securities and Exchange Commission’s requires financial statements from publicly traded companies conform to GAAP, Business News Daily says. Following GAAP doesn't guarantee the statements are accurate, so companies also have to undergo annual audits.

How Financial Reporting Goes Wrong

Companies sometimes commit fraud in their financial statements, misrepresenting the company's financial health to impress investors or hide taxable income. However even a 100 percent ethical business can screw up their reports, Financial Management says. It's not just a matter of mistakes: Not reading or analyzing your bookkeeper's reports means you're not getting much use of them.

• The reports lack comparative data showing, for example, how this quarter compares to last quarter or how actual spending compares to the budget.
• Reports that do include comparative data leave it to the readers to interpret. A report that shows monthly sales revenue for the past year but doesn't translate the differences into percentage requires the readers to make the calculation. They're more likely to get it wrong or misinterpret what they're reading.
• Your bookkeeper doesn't follow GAAP. For example you and the bookkeeper know one of your customers won't pay up, but you keep that knowledge in your heads instead of adjusting accounts receivable.
• You receive internal financial reports, but you don't read them. You can't spot any discrepancies or oddities in the bookkeeping if you don't look for them.
• You read the reports, but don't analyze them. If there are negative trends such as accounts receivable taking longer and longer to pay, you need to spot them before you can identify the problem.
• Not monitoring cash flow closely. Even if your income is good, poor cash flow means you can't pay your bills. Your accounting team needs to update the cash-flow statement even more frequently than other forms of financial reports.

Risk Management says even though large companies often use automated systems to track and record data, the systems can still generate inaccurate reporting. Multiple people making multiple data entries, sometimes in multiple systems, creates errors and inconsistencies. It's not always easy to identify the source of the data and verify its accuracy.

Bad judgment is another issue. Even under GAAP, some issues aren't purely a matter of crunching numbers. Figuring how to expense R&D or to value your company's goodwill are among the many matters that require judgment calls. Those calls won't always be right, particularly close to the end of an accounting period when everyone's rushing to close the books.

Consequences of Bad Reporting

One consequence of bad reporting, Risk Management says, is wasted time. With a lot of human error and data flowing in from multiple sources, your finance department may have to spend hours or days each quarter reconciling financial data throughout your organization. That can add up to a lot of salary spent fighting financial-reporting fires.

Another consequence is that inaccurate information in internal reports makes it harder to make good decisions. Companies rely on financial data in budgeting, forecasting and developing performance indicators. If sales metrics and R&D numbers are off, even if they don't actually violate GAAP, your projections and budgets may be off, too. If your reports understate your debt load, you may discover you're deeper in the red than you thought.

Micronet says misinformation in reports can leave you blind to problems where accurate reports would have been a red flag. Errors can also hurt in other ways until they're corrected: Exaggerated profits can lead to higher taxes, while underestimated profits make your company looks less valuable.

If you issue a statement of earnings, then have to restate them later because of errors, that's not good either. Your stock price may drop, your reputation takes a hit and it may become tougher to obtain capital. There's also the risk that the errors in your reporting are material enough to violate GAAP. If you're a CEO of a publicly traded company, you have to sign off on the accuracy of your financial statements. It's better if the SEC doesn't discover major problems after you've signed.

In 2019, for instance, the SEC said Hertz would have to pay $16 million in penalties, a decision the car rental company signed off on. SEC said Hertz' accounting decisions had been driven by a desire to meet budgets and earning estimates and included multiple misstatements of material facts. Hertz did not admit to any errors, but agreed to pay the penalty.

Consequences of Bad Auditing

External audits are one tool for keeping your financial reporting in line with reality, Inc_._ says. In a financial statement audit, the outside auditor reviews your statements to see if they comply with GAAP standards. That includes checking that your internal controls to prevent errors and fraud work as they're supposed to.

Several audit scandals in the 21st century have demonstrated that auditors don't always do the job right, Strategic Finance says. Some accounting firms have found the real money is in consulting and advising business, and the desire to win clients creates an auditor bias against criticizing them. Where elements of financial reporting are based on C-suite opinions, auditors may end up deferring to management's judgment instead of scrutinizing it.

The consequences of audit failure can be severe. If auditors don't catch inaccuracies in your financial reporting, the problems may grow catastrophic, steering a company to collapse. Unacknowledged liabilities can build up until dealing them becomes a serious problem, even if the company survives.

Important Financial Report for a Small Business

When starting out a small business, entrepreneurs may find it quite confusing to determine which reports are important and how to read these financial reports. There are three basic reports that a small business requires to keep track of its finances: the balance sheet, the income statement and the cash flow statement. The cash flow statement is arguably the most important of a small business' financial reports. This report essentially indicates if the business is generating cash, or not.

Complementary. The balance sheet indicates a company's assets, liability and net worth, and is not intricately concerned with the daily operations of the business. The income statement comes closer to the cash flow -- it shows whether the business has made a profit or a loss, taking into account the total revenues less the total expenses. The cash flow breaks down the information in the balance sheet and income statement into simpler data. This simpler data provides a snapshot of how well the business is doing.

Purpose. A small business uses cash flow statements to report the inflow and outflow of the business. The inflow is the cash or revenues that come into the business through the sale of commodities; the outflow is the cash used in the daily operations of the business. This inward and outward flow of cash is important to keep a business in operation. Without sufficient inflow, then the business will lack cash to pay for expenses and to purchase inventory or stock.

Frequency. How often should a small business manage its cash flow statement? A small business owner should report his cash flow on a monthly basis. This is because most small businesses purchase inventory and pay for expenses on a monthly basis. Due to the crucial role it plays in a business, it is important not to neglect reporting and accounting for cash flow. This is especially true because small businesses experience hardship in raising and generating cash as they start up.

Components. The cash flow statement has three components. The first part constitutes a business' cash flow from its operations; the business accounts this as the net income less the operational costs. The second part constitutes cash flow generated from investment activities, which entail purchase of assets for the business, such as equipment; the business records this as an outflow. Third, are the financial activities which constitute cash flow from bank loans or venture capital, and is recorded as outflow when paying it back.

General Purpose Financial Report

An employee may be asked to complete a general purpose financial report. This report is one that broadly shows the financial information pertaining to the business in question and is designed to be offered to all types of readers, not a specific group. When composing this type of report, an employee needs to know what it is commonly used for and what information goes into writing it correctly.

A general purpose financial report is a general report that shows all of the financial information that pertains to a business. This is done to meet all of the needs of the readers, rather than those of a specific group of readers, such as investors, shareholders, business executives or budget planners. The name, general purpose financial report, indicates the report is a general observation of the company’s finances.

Sections

Common sections in a general purpose financial report include income statements, which cover income from investors and sales, cash flow statements, which cover all of the operational expenses the business has in order to operate and a balance sheet that shows how much the business owns as assets and how much it owes in liabilities.

 Offer Totals

Total estimates of various sections, such as expenses, assets and liabilities, also are offered in the general purpose financial report. For example, the company may have a long list of monthly expenses, which is needed to operate the business to its full potential. Instead of listing all of the expenses on several pages, the general purpose financial report offers total sums, so readers can see exactly how much is being spent each month.

Uses

There are numerous readers for a general purpose financial report, which means that it has several purposes. Shareholders and investors may analyze the information and data in the report to determine how the business is doing financially and whether investments made in the business are wise investments. If the report reaches the public, the public may read the report to see how the business is spending its money internally and to see how much the business is earning on products or services. Business executives may analyze the general purpose financial report to see if any changes need to be made to the budget to eliminate liabilities or cut expenses.

Financial Reporting Requirements and Regulations

Financial reports for private and public companies based in the U.S. must follow the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), while most international companies report under the Internal Reporting Financial Standards (IRFS). While both accounting frameworks provide standard rules and guidelines, there are slight differences between the two financial reporting systems.

Although the IFRS is still in development, the general consensus is that it allows international companies to issue short, clean, and reader-friendly financial reports. The U.S. GAAP requires financial reports to be much more thorough and follow a unique set of rules and guidelines. 

There are several initiatives to either merge the two frameworks or simply reduce their differences. Despite these distinctions, both systems provide a standard framework to make financial reports accurate and consistent across the board. 

Understanding the Importance of Financial Reporting

Without financial reporting, it’s difficult to understand how well a company is performing from a financial standpoint. Not only are financial reports crucial for management or investors to assess a business’s financial stability, but they are required by law for taxes and standard accounting practices. Here are the top reasons financial reporting can benefit your small business:

Make Better Financial Decisions. Analyzing and understanding financial statements is key when a business needs to make an important decision. Financial reports allow management to identify trends, potential roadblocks, and actively track their financial performance in real-time. Staying on top of your financial statements will give you the foundation you need to make quick and sound economic decisions when the time comes.

Manage Debt. Financial statements provide business owners and management direct insight into their company’s current assets and liabilities. Also, on how they should effectively manage their company’s outstanding debt moving forward. 

Simplify Your Taxes. Financial reports are required by law for tax purposes and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses these reports to evaluate a company’s tax income. Accurate financial reporting mitigates the risk for error and saves an immense amount of time. It relieves the overall burden that comes along with filing your company’s taxes each year.

Compliance. It’s no secret that accurate financial reporting can improve your company’s financial performance but it also guarantees that your business is compliant with the law and regulations required by government agencies such as the IRS and SEC. 

Financial Transparency. External stakeholders must research a company’s financial position before they decide to officially invest. Financial reporting is a great way to showcase a company’s financial integrity and build trust with potential investors and creditors.