Summarize the arguments that have been made for teaching as an art and for teaching as a science. Then explain how these two views can be combined

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Teaching is considered by some to be an art because the conditions under which teachers work and the way in which students respond are highly unpredictable, thereby requiring teachers to engage in a fair amount of improvising. Consequently, teaching can not be reduced to a set of procedures or prescriptions that are memorized and automatically run off, but involve making many on-the-spot and longer-term decisions that flow as much from one's motives, beliefs, and values, as from any body of formal knowledge. In other words, effective teachers are flexible in their use of specific teaching techniques, can communicate with students in different ways, can modify a lesson in just the right way when the need arises, and willingly work around impediments.

On the other hand, a considerable body of relevant research evidence exists that can provide a solid foundation for much of what teachers do. Examples include providing students with increased time to learn, structuring upcoming lessons with instructional objectives and pretests, using questions and homework to keep students motivated, and providing corrective feedback and verbal reinforcement.

These two approaches can be combined under the label, "The Teacher as Artistic Scholar." This means that teachers should not only be aware of what research has to say about the many topics that relate to classroom learning, but should also be aware of the limits of research in order to avoid an overly rigid or mechanical approach to teaching. For each lesson and group of students, teachers need to be able to figure out how to best use research findings to meet their instructional goals.