A teaching method comprises the principles and strategies educators employ to facilitate student learning, shaped by factors such as the subject matter, learner expertise, and the learning environment. These approaches are generally classified as either teacher-centered, where the instructor is the primary source of information and students are passive recipients, or student-centered, where teachers act as coaches and both students and teachers actively participate in the learning process.
Among various techniques, lecturing is a common and cost-efficient method, particularly suitable for large classes, though it can limit student engagement. To enhance traditional lectures, Eric Mazur developed Peer Instruction, an innovative method that intersperses conceptual questions to expose student misconceptions, leading to discussion and reteaching. Additionally, explaining remains a fundamental and widely utilized teaching approach, encompassing strategies like using analogies and connecting student ideas to scientific models for building conceptual understanding.