Why is the laboratory method considered teacher-centric despite giving…

Concept

A teaching method is teacher-centric when control over objectives, procedures, sequence, and evaluation remains with the teacher or with prescribed directions.

Physical participation alone does not make a method learner-centred; the decisive issue is whether learners have autonomy to plan, investigate, and make procedural decisions.

Application

In the laboratory method described here, learners manipulate materials and perform the experiment, but the teacher or experiment manual prescribes what to do and in what order. The activity is hands-on, yet procedural control remains external to the learners.

Contrast

• Motivation and enjoyment describe affective outcomes of practical work, not who controls the learning procedure.

• Working without the teacher's instructions would describe learner autonomy rather than teacher-directed procedure.

• Developing social skills and emotional attitudes describes possible developmental outcomes, not the location of instructional control.

Cross-check

Ask who chooses the procedure and controls its sequence. When learners execute prescribed directions rather than design the investigation, the method remains teacher-centric even though they handle the apparatus themselves.

Result

Therefore, the method is considered teacher-centric because learners follow instructions fully guided by the teacher or experiment manual.