Constructivism
Constructivism tells us that students build knowledge based on this kind of knowledge and prior experiences.
What is background knowledge?
When planning for inquiry, we should focus on this instead of little details.
What is the big idea?
This your number one job as a teacher in the science classroom.
What is keeping your students safe?
If a student says phrases such as "I can't do this" or "I give up," they are exhibiting this kind of mindset.
What is a fixed mindset?
This alliterative inquiry learning plan can be used with various big ideas that arise from student interest. Students can use existing knowledge to engage in discussions and research.
What is a 5E plan?
In a constructivist classroom, the teacher acts as this instead of the driving force of the lesson.
What is a facilitator?
This type of learning tool can be used by students and teachers to connect ideas and spark discussions and inquiry based projects in the classroom.
What is a concept map?
This is one of the top causes of safety incidents while conducting experiments in the classroom and is often out of the teacher's control.
What is overcrowding?
If a student celebrates their mistakes and is comfortable with being wrong, they are exhibiting this kind of mindset.
What is a growth mindset?
This type of classroom display promotes thinking about what children already know and what they want to know about a particular topic.
What is a wonder board?
A key component of constructivism is that knowledge is this, meaning it can change and evolve over time based on new information and experiences.
What is tentative?
This technique for small group work is based on student inquiry and students take on various roles to complete research on a topic of interest.
What is SOLE?
If foreseeable hazards exceed this while planning an experiment, teachers should have students act as observers only or choose another activity altogether.
What is the educational value of direct participation?
When teachers model these, their students are more likely to have quality and meaningful learning experiences and are more likely to develop a growth mindset.
What are positive attitudes toward science?
This learning pedagogy combines constructivism and inquiry to create different levels of active knowledge that students work through. The goal is acquiring higher order thinking skills.
What is Bloom's Taxonomy?
When we ask students about their existing knowledge, it can help to reveal these, which are thoughts (correct or incorrect) a student already has about a concept.
What are preconceptions and misconceptions?
Students should spend 80% of their science time doing these, but true inquiry cannot occur without a balance of these and minds-on learning processes.
What are hands-on activities?
When performing science experiments with our students, we should make sure we do this beforehand to be aware of any potential safety hazards.
What is conduct it ourselves?
As educators, we should do our absolute best to make science this for young learners. When students feel like they have the ability and resources to learn, they will be more successful.
What is accessible?
Students use background knowledge and hands-on, inquiry-based experiences to make these, which are essential for learning and comprehending important scientific concepts.
What are connections?
This student-centered constructivist strategy guides students through discussions so that they can discover concepts by inventing them for themselves.
What is concept invention?
We should be doing this while asking questions during class time. We can document which questions sparked discussions and higher level thinking skills. We can also use video/audio recordings to aide in this process.
What is evaluating and reflecting?
When discussing expectations for science activities, one way to promote safety is to co-construct one of these with your students.
What is an acceptable and unacceptable material use list?
This is a fundamental aspect of a growth mindset (Hint: Students may not have mastery of a skill now, but they have the potential to master this skill in the future).
What is the power of yet?
When students answer questions, we can probe for more information by asking this question, which may help the student construct a better answer.
What is "What makes you say that?"