The heuristic term referred to Armstrong, the inventor of the ‘Heuristic Method of Teaching’ strategy. In layman’s language, this method is based on the psychological principles of the trial-and-error theory.
The word ‘heuristic’ means to discover. Thus, imaginative thinking and logic are the perquisites for this teaching strategy. Under this, the students are assigned tasks as independent discoverers where the teacher provides no help or guidance. Here, the teacher comes up with a problem for the students, which is left to be solved and discovered alone by the latter.
The purpose of this teaching method is to allow students to think and dive deep into the mind of a discoverer and find the solution on their own using workshops, libraries, laboratories, etc. Also known as learning by self-experience, this strategy mainly focuses on-
· Development of problem-solving attitude
· Development of scientific attitudes towards the problem
· Development of self-expression
Merits
· Helps students in achieving effective, cognitive, and psychomotor objectives.
· Helps in developing self-confidence and self-reliance in the learners.
· Enhance creativity and encourage learners to explore the environment.
· Relationship between teacher and learner strengthens
Demerits
· Learners with higher intelligence and divergent thinking are successful. Students below average fail to succeed in this method which frustrates them.
· Teachers lack patience in providing individual guidance to all learners. Also, some learners feel hesitant to ask for help from their teachers.
· This method is not used for the primary level of education.
