Merits and Demerits of Enquiry Method of Teaching Science are as follows:

Merits of Enquiry Method:

By making use of this method, following advantages are obtained by teacher as well as students:

a. Teacher can keep a vigil check on the activities of the students as it is the teacher who evokes the responses in the students through the puzzling event.

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b. Through this method, students get the opportunity to learn various kinds of information on their own. They do not rely on the readymade information provided by the teacher in any way. Thus, this method helps in making the students creative in their own way.

c. As students do not accept hypothesis designed by them on the basis of information provided by teacher, thus they learn to verify the hypothesis after reading and experimentation processes.

Demerits of Enquiry Method:

This method has some limitations also, mention of which are as follows:

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a. It is not possible to use this method under the structured school curriculum as it is slow in nature and requires a lot of time.

b. This method can only be used properly if the teacher who is making use of it is creative. Not only this, if the teacher does not know how to arrange practical experiments work, then also he cannot make use of this method properly.

c. As students of different mental capabilities attend the same class in the school, thus it is not possible for all of them to learn various information’s through this method effectively.

d. If all the students do not take participate in question asking function, then the class room will become dominated by few students, as a result of which other less able students will feel a sense of neglect.

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When to Use:

This method should be used by the teacher when he intends to develop spirit of enquiry in the students, as it will motivate them to find out for themselves the answers of various questions arising in their mind by making various kinds of enquiries instead of getting or accepting readymade information from the teacher.