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Constructivism is the process of observation and exploration throughout our lives individually or learning side by side with our peers. In the science community this is a direct reflection on our field of study. Everything in science starts as an observation and curiosity. Then we dig into in, through trial and error, working with our peers to figure out the meaning behind things. We can take new observations and relate it to things we already know and use that background information to work on our own theories. For example, before we knew the sun rotated around the Earth, it was first understood that the solar system was moving however, everyone believe that the sun moved around the earth. A scientist used that previous knowledge, tested it and discovered that it was the earth moving not the sun!

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This  is  one  of the best ways to implement constructivism in the science classroom in my personal opinion. Instead of performing a single evaluation at the end of the unit, students are actively learning throughout the entire unit through this project and utilizing their information from their projects to understand the material.

I attached a website that provides multiple examples of lesson plans that can be used for  projects for students:

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Heidi Reina, M.S., Ed, is an educational technology integrator. She teaches coding to teens using project-based learning.

Detailed Examples for K-12 Teachers

Putting together a PBL science plan can be enormously time consuming without excellent models. So here are hundreds of free detailed plans for projects for elementary, middle and high school students. The plans are sorted by discipline - astronomy and space, chemistry, engineering and architecture, physics, technology, and earth, life sciences, physical sciences, and... well, "other" for no clear fit. Most of the ones I've listed provide project overviews, guiding questions, procedures and activities, work product descriptions, grading rubrics, and questions for reflection.

The first PBL project I planned many years ago was the creation of a butterfly habitat in the school garden by my 3rd graders. I think the planning took more time than the project, and I didn't have a lot of resources to help guide me. Since then, I've been an avid collector of PBL plans.

I found far more free PBL resources than I ever anticipated, and hundreds of free science-based PBL projects are listed below. Many of these projects would also be considered problem based learning projects.

Heads up!

Free registration is required to obtain project details at:

PBL Online

PBLU.org

ePals

Are you a PBL Beginner? - This book is tremendously helpful

Image of students using ground tracking system, by U.S. Navy, Greg Vojtko [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Use Industry-Sponsored Competitions to Incorporate PBL in Your Classroom

Favorite PBL Sources Poll

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Project Based Learning Science - Lesson Plans for PBL

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Heidi Reina, M.S., Ed, is an educational technology integrator. She teaches coding to teens using project-based learning. Putting together a PBL science plan can be enormously time consuming without excellent models. So here are hundreds of free detailed plans for projects for elementary, middle and high school students.

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I really enjoyed this spectrum of constructivism and  I would like to implement this more. Student take lessons and concepts from us as teachers and then use their own questions to learn the material and to expand more on the concepts we are discussing in class. For example we can be having a  discussion on genetics in our class and student can  come up with their own questions on genetics, such  as "my parents both have brown eyes, so why do I have blue?" Then they can take these questions, research them and come back to the classroom and explain to the class how they discovered their answers.

I also attached a website that encompasses a lesson focusing on inquiry learning:

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Reciprocal Learning occurs when students take turns  predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing. Students in my classroom can take samples of rocks and  make predictions about the rock, make questions, answer those questions and clarify them, then in the end compare their predictions to their final knowledge and examine if they were accurate or not to their original prediction.

I attached a website that provides examples of reciprocal learning in a science classroom:

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1. Choose an appropriate text for students in the subject area. Build and/or activate background knowledge on subject.

2. Put students in groups of four.

3. Distribute one note card to each member of the group identifying each person's unique role:

Summarizer

Questioner

Clarifier

Predictor

4. Have students read a few paragraphs of the assigned text selection. Encourage them to use note-taking strategies such as selective underlining or sticky-notes to help them better prepare for their role in the discussion.

5. At the given stopping point, the Summarizer will highlight the key ideas up to this point in the reading.

6. The Questioner will then pose questions about the selection:

Unclear parts

Puzzling information

Connections to other concepts already learned

7. The Clarifier will address confusing parts and attempt to answer the questions that were just posed.

8. The Predictor can offer predictions about what the author will tell the group next or, if it's a literary selection, the predictor might suggest what the next events in the story will be.

Much of what we study in Biology and Chemistry can be challenging for the students and always includes new words. The Reciprocal Teaching method is an excellent way to cover challenging material as it will engage the students, causes a discussion, connects to other concepts already learned. Because much of science is about making predictions I think this method is a natural fit for studying science material as making predictions is part of the process. Also, because of the rich terminology in science, it is important to have a clarifier, or someone what addresses confusing parts, or terms, for the rest of the group. I can see using this strategy, while covering new concepts in science, on a consistent basis.

In the above video, the teacher really models how to lead a discussion in reciprocal teaching. She then scaffolds them into asking their own questions and clarifying unclear words. The next phase is summarizing and she leads the students to summarize for one another the main idea. Then she asks them to share their predictions with one another.

The video above shows a student group involved in reciprocal teaching. The students are clearly taking ownership of leading the discussion in this 5th grade classroom. They are engaged with the material, asking the questions, predicting, summarizing, clarifying unclear words. The students are helping one another and at the same time taking ownership of their roles.

By using Reciprocal teaching with my students, we will be addressing the following common core standards for 9th and 10th grade science writing. In order to clarify or summarize a part of the text given, students will need to cite specific evidence from text and also be able to determine the central ideas or conclusions of the text. The clarifier will be responsible for clarifying to the group the meaning of key words and other science terminology. In order to give a summary of the text, students will need to analyze the structure of relationship among concepts and terms in the text. To make a prediction or ask questions, students will be analyzing the author's purpose in providing an explanation. All of the comprehension strategies used in my classroom are so the students will be able to read and comprehend their science text both independently and proficiently.

1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.

2. Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.

3. Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts and topics.

4. Analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts in a text, including relationships among key terms (e.g., force, friction, reaction force, energy).

5. Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text, defining the question the author seeks to address

6. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

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Choose an appropriate text for students in the subject area. Build and/or activate background knowledge on subject. Put students in groups of four. Distribute one note card to each member of the group identifying each person's unique role: Summarizer Questioner Clarifier Predictor Have students read a few paragraphs of the assigned text selection.

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This is another great way to incorporate into the science classroom. You can take real life problems or situations such as, destruction in the local river beds and having students research and come up with ways on explanations as to why these problems are occurring. Then they will take all of this information such as CO2 pollution and invasive species killing native riverbed species, and coming up with solutions to help solve the issues at hand such as using a biological control like using a beetle to eat the invasive species, etc.

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Service learning is important in  everyone aspect of  education, this  is  where students can help  within the community that  is related to our area  content. For example, students can learn about problems  within the  community such as Utah Lake, throughout the  project  students can  clean  up the  area  and then go  around and educate the community about these  problems through an enrichment night or by spreading the information  throughout the community through  posters, presentations, etc.