Module 4

Reflect upon your beliefs about using constructivist techniques in the elementary science classroom and how you might allow students to construct knowledge in your science class.

When I am teaching I try my best to use the constructivist techniques because I believe that students should guide their own learning to make the most meaning from what is being taught. I think especially in the science classroom, students should inquire more about the topics being taught. As was stated on thirteen.org, students need to engage in their learning to formulate questions that can be discussed through peer discussion and experiments. It's important to provide opportunities for our students to explore the world they live in so that they construct their understandings and aren't doing rote memorization about our world. I think a way I could bring some of these techniques into my classroom I could start by providing the new standard for that day to the class along with some materials on each table. Then allow my students to explore the materials or manipulatives provided to get open dialogue going about what it is we might be moving into for that days learning. What questions they might have about the items on their table or have them try to connect the materials to experiences they may have with them. This opens the classroom for communication and entices the students interest in the new topic. Experiments don't have to be on a large scale for students to gain meaning and understanding from it but as long as they have the opportunity to explore and discuss with their peers it will be beneficial to their learning. I don't think that textbooks are necessarily a bad way of reinforcing ideas that have been learned but I don't think they should be of the most use in a science classroom environment. 

When I was reading through the online workshop I realized how much my school and previous education classes were trying to form my teaching into being more constructivist. When we discuss the evaluation system now for teachers in Georgia, in order to be considered a proficient teacher you must be incorporating ideas from constructivism. Rigor is defintely a way of doing this because if you have open-ended projects that there is no clear end product it allows students to collaborate with their peers to guide their understanding of the material. The teacher is there to help when needed and to facilitate questioning but the teacher shouldn't be handing over all the information. This leads to more rich engagement and discussion among the students in the classroom. If students haven't been in a classroom like this before you must take the time at the beginning of the school year to establish their understanding of what you want from them through modeling and exploration. I can understand how more traditional teachers might be skeptical or critical about these ideas but once you see the excitement in students through your teaching I don't see how you could revert back to traditional teaching. 

Although as a teacher I may not be a constructivist teacher every hour of every day but I strive to lead my students through this type of instruction. It takes more thought out lessons and preparation to help guide this type of classroom but I can see how the results would be amazing! 

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html



S5E1. Students will identify surface features of the Earth caused by constructive and destructive processes.

b. Identifyandfindexamplesofsurfacefeaturescausedbydestructiveprocesses.

• Erosion (water—rivers and oceans, wind)
  
• Weathering
  
• Impact of organisms
  
• Earthquake
  
• Volcano ( I will focus on this one)
  
  
  
  
  Excite: Show the baking soda/vinegar experiment in a water bottle

  - have students journal about what they observed 

  
  
  
  
  Explore: have students research different volcanos in our world 

  - journal about the different explosions that take place with different volcanos

  
  

  - develop a  volcano hill in our schools yard with the water bottle experiment to show what happens to the land around it. 

  
  
  
  
  
  Explain: Journal entries about what they see and learn from experiments

  - draw pictures of the progression of volcanos

  
  
  
  
  Expand: Use the internet to explore the differences between earthquakes and volcanos

  - create different models for the different types of volcanic eruptions (gaseous ones vs. lava types)

  
  

  - research how volcanos are formed  

  
  

  - partner with someone in the class to discuss their findings and how their findings may have differed 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  Extend: Explore how volcanos can not only destruct our world but how they are constructive
           - research where volcanos have been constructive and compare those results to where they                have been mostly destructive. 
  
  

  
  

  
  Exchange: Challenge the students to find new and interesting facts about volcanos to add to the             grade level wiki
  
  

  - challenge students to be the first one to have found a past volcanic eruption and how it changed the earth

  
  
  Examine: wiki, models, reflective journals, and observations 
  
  

  - a comparison between volcanos in different parts of the world

  
  

  - discuss if there was a volcano to form near Georgia where would be the most logical place, why, and how might it react when it erupts with evidence to explain their calculations.