Chapter 7

Make a list of the sequence of skills necessary for ultimate mastery of the content of your lesson through a constructivist approach.

Which of these learning activities/skills lend themselves to student’s individual or group construction? How might you structure learning activities that lead students to discover these skills/these principles?

I plan to use a large amount of authentic activities through a constructivist approach in my classroom. For instance when approaching the subject material of Newton's laws of motion there is a large amount of hands on experiments I could do in my class room. If I decide to use the egg drop with parachute design the students can observe first what happens to the egg without the parachute. Then when provided with the materials they can set forth to design their very own structure (with some guidance depending on the grade level) and then we can set forth to test these structures. The students can record their data and any flaws that are discovered can then be redesigned. Students will be able to learn what forces are applied on the object and structure. Another activity dealing with Newton's laws of motion can help students understand why people wear set belts. Students can make a figure out of clay and place this on a little cart that will represent a modern day car. Students can record their findings for this experiment with different variables such as ramp (hill) incline and velocity. Students can view how the figure is unseated in different styles depending on the speed of the car at the point of the collision. Students will then be able to learn about the coefficient of friction. Maybe my students will use the information they have learned from these authentic activities to go into the field of science and engineering or maybe it will just supply them with a better understanding of how things work in the real world. For younger students this simple experiment may even help them understand why their parents ask them to wear a helmet when ever they go horseback riding, bicycling or when playing contact sports. A large number of life lessons can be taken from a few well thought out science experiments.