Teachers of Foreign Languages Department Bilotserkovets M.A., Solovei M.S.

Sumy National Agrarian University, Ukraine

Heuristic Method in the Modern Classroom

The word "heuristic" is derived from the Greek word "heurisco" meaning "I find out" and the "Heuristic Method" is one in which the students are left to find out things for themselves. Students are placed, as far as possible, in the position of discoverers and instead of being told the facts; they are led to find out things for themselves.

Through this method the students are made to learn. The Heuristic method was, for the first time, coined by Dr. H. E. Armstrong (1888-1928), Professor of Chemistry at City and Guild Institute Kensington. This method of teaching is of a very recent origin. First it was used in Science and its success led it to be adopted in the teaching of all subjects in the School Curriculum.

The aim of this method is to develop the scientific attitude and spirit in students. The spirit of enquiry prompts the them to learn. This method insists on truth, whose foundation is based on reason and personal experiences.

As a matter of fact there is no spoon-feeding or more acceptances of facts which are given by the teacher. An eminent educationist has pointed out that the object of the heuristic method is "to make students more exact, more truthful, observant and thoughtful to lay this solid foundation for future self-education and to encourage this growth of spirit of enquiry and research."

All the students in a group may be set to work simultaneously at this same problem in adopting the heuristic method. Each student with all attention strives to find out something for himself. Heuristic method aims at the students' own observations to satisfy as many questions as possible to be raised in the teaching- learning situation.

Much is demanded of the teacher in the heuristic method of teaching. He should be a great reader of books in order to obtain varied information. The teacher should posses much curiosity, observation, interest and spirit of scientific investigation, because these are the qualities he wishes to develop in pupils. The teacher should realize the responsibility of fostering in this students good habits of reading and collecting various information from books.

In the heuristic method, the teacher is a guide and also a working partner. As a friend of students, this teacher should proceed on the way to discover facts. He is to see that this class room is pervaded by an atmosphere of freedom and that the work provided to the students encourages self-development, spontaneity and self-expression.

Heuristic method is based upon the experiential learning, wherein students learn by experience or through discovery. Experiential learning includes trial and error, educated guessing and using a "rule of thumb" or an established rule to find the answer to a more complicated problem. Teachers use heuristic method to encourage students to use common sense and rational methods to find answers to academic questions. However, it is also the teacher's responsibility to create a learning environment conducive to experiential learning with varied and age-appropriate educational lessons.

Heuristic method depends on an individual's ability to engage directly with a problem and find the solution through trial and error. However, heuristic learning allows students to perform experiments after making an educated guess or "hypothesis." The experiment will then prove their educated guess wrong or right, further informing other experiments and experiential learning experiences. In this way, educated guessing provides the opportunity for further learning as students delve deeper into areas of study.

Heuristic learning allows human beings to build upon the knowledge of their predecessors. It is perhaps significant that the Greek word for discovery has come to signify all that is hands-on in modern classrooms. The ancient Greeks built a great foundation for knowledge, learning and educational institutions. Using heuristic learning methods all students begin at a similar place with no limit to the possibilities of their knowledge, experiences or skills. It generally refers to a process of making open-ended, provisional decisions in order to get into a better position — “for now” — from which to act and decide better later:

“Let’s see how this works out — find out if we learn something — and and then we’ll decide from there.”

People learn through different processes in different situations. However, even in certain situations different people choose different processes to learn. That is why it is hard to sometimes say what is exactly the right learning process to use in a specific situation. Some students need to see things to learn them, others to hear and some need to experience them for themselves in order to understand them. That is where heuristic learning method comes to play. There is an old saying that “people learn from experience” and that is what heuristic method is based on. Once a person has done something, that may include solved a problem or simply plugged a cable in the right outlet, that person has learned how to do it. Sometimes it may take more than once to master what one is trying to learn but through experience one learns, and that is what heuristic method is all about. It is based on the student discovering things for himself. Trying possibilities and learning from his mistakes. It is about seeing things through your own eyes, and doing them with your own hands.

Today's knowledge and methods will be tomorrow's "how we used to do it". The accelerating rate of change will make "know-it-alls" obsolete. Experts will be those who have become adept at learning. The winners will be the ones who have learned how to learn. Ralph Waldo Emerson once quoted, "If you will learn only methods, you will forever be tied to your methods but if you learn the principles behind the methods you can make up your own techniques and succeed in any environment". Principles, whether scientific, ethical or otherwise are unyielding but methods are flexible. Therefore it is critical that one focuses more on learning to learn and not simply acquiring knowledge. Using heuristic method, teachers show their students how to formulate self-learning strategies.

Learning is more than taking classes and regurgitating the material. To be effective one must be able to synthensize the new subject matter with existing knowledge and experiences to achieve innovative solutions to meet the task at hand. Heuristic Method extends educational investment beyond the time students spend in the classroom.