Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Constructionism

This week, we explored various resources pertaining to the constructionist theory, which is the thought that students learn best when they are building and finding out information for themselves. One of the instructional strategies that align with the constructionist theory is that of project-based learning. With project-based learning, students research and find out information on their own, and then present it in a meaningful way. The teacher is there to provide guidance and help the students when questions arise.

We recently finished a unit on the Native Americans. When looking through the resources this week that support the constructionist theory, one of the websites had a unit on the Native Americans. It has some great ideas for students to explore what life was like for the Native Americans and how they responded to the Lewis and Clark expedition. It allows for the students to explore culture and many aspects of the expedition. It is more than students listening to a teacher lecture, they are finding out for themselves what is was like during the time when settlers began exploring North America. This is a great example of students constructing and exploring new information and then processing the information based on their discoveries. I want to incorporate more activities like the one mentioned above so that learning is more meaningful and productive for the students.
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6 comments:

  1. shriftMay 26, 2010 at 5:41 PM

    That sounds very engaging! Maybe next year you can discuss the Native Americans during Thanksgiving!
    I really enjoy project-based learning and all of the ideas we are learning. Did you practice these before?
    I just had my first virtual field trip with my high school students and they truly enjoyed it! They filled out the web and everything! It is actually a really great site, if you check out www.winterstail.com it is a story about a dolphin that needed to re-learn how to swim with a prosthetic tail! It is a true inspiration.

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  2. mathdivayorkMay 27, 2010 at 7:00 AM

    Mrs. Woodworth,
    The website you mentioned sounds interesting. I am a math teacher and do not use a lot of websites for research, but I do use them for interactive games. I was wondering, how did you set up the format for the research your students accomplished? Did they fill out an outline or create a PowerPoint or use another tool? I was thinking it would be great if someone could produce a virtual field trip of one of these adventures concerning the Native Americans or the expedition of Lewis and Clark. The design would be even more engaging if the characters actually moved and there were links to maps. Now, how can I do something like that for Algebra?

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  3. Mrs. YoungMay 29, 2010 at 5:26 AM

    Mrs. Woodworth,

    That looks like a great website! I also teach about Native Americans. One of the lesson plans about writing using only pictures looks like a great idea. I have done this in the past on regular paper and it was been effective. However, I think the students would enjoy it more the way the website describes it using a dried paper bag. This activity might be fun to do with another class that is also learning about Native Americans. The students could write to each other like pen pals, but they would communicate like the Native Americans did using only pictures. Here is a link that might help the students have some common symbols to help them communicate more effectively: http://s3.hubimg.com/u/652926_f496.jpg.

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  4. Mrs. WoodworthMay 29, 2010 at 7:43 AM

    Leah,

    I checked out the website about the dolphins. That is a really cool site. I have done some project-based learning the past few years, but I would like to be able to do more because it is really a great way for students to learn.

    Rhonda,

    I've only done one virtual field trip with my students, although next year, I would like to do more. The one we did in class was just done together and they did not fill anything out. I think if they did one of their own, I would have an outline or graphic organizer for them to fill out. Then, they could use power point or some other sort of presentation to present their information.

    As far as math is concerned, maybe they could research some famous people associated with math, their hometowns, etc., and that may spark their interest in whatever aspect of math you are studying.

    Ashley,

    I really like your idea to communicate like the Native Americans using the symbols on the website. I did something similar to this when we studied the Egyptians. The students really did have fun with it. Thanks for the link, I will definitely use that next year.

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  5. mathdivayorkMay 29, 2010 at 8:05 AM

    Mrs. Woodworth,
    Thanks for the math suggestion. By trying to cover all the standards we do not have a lot of extra time for projects that deal with people of math. I do, however, offer extra credit during the year, so this may be a great way to have my students use technoloyg while gaining some extra points. Thanks again for the input.
    Rhonda Y.

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  6. shriftJune 4, 2010 at 8:50 AM

    Thank you for taking the time to look at the site! My students loved the story about the dolphin's tail!

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