Project-Based Learning
in the science classroom
Teaching
to mainstream students in our public schools presents a host of challenges for
teachers to overcome when educating students in the science classroom. The pedagogy that educators develop to meet
these challenges require an adaptive nature by which to implement curriculum
(content, scope and sequence). This methodology
lends best to the conditions presented in the learning environment. I believe these challenges facing teachers today require the most urgently needed changes in science education in
American public schools.
After
school programs, competitive science projects, gifted student programs and STEM
related programs outside the realm of the 8 hour school day are where science
projects currently hold sway. Without
question, I believe that project-based science needs to be part of the scope and sequence within a
science curriculum. I believe teachers
can achieve a seamless transition between conceptual units in science through
the implementation of project-based science initiatives embedded in the
curriculum. This 21st
century model for education provides learning experiences that captivate minds
and inspire intrinsic motivation to learn.
It supports in-depth and long-term learning experience where students
can dwell upon and reflect on outcomes that are achieved in-line with
performance-based expectations.
Getting
students to engage in the learning process has never been more of a challenge
than it is today in our schools.
Educational experiences, provided to students in science education, are
moving toward performance-based models for learning and assessments. There is no better performance-based model
for learning than project-based educational initiatives that challenge
students’ skills and abilities as a whole and not as piece-meal assessments of
one aspect of one concept at a time in the curriculum.
Play,
Passion and Purpose are at the center of excellent teaching and learning. The interest in and ability, by students, to
create new knowledge to solve new problems is the single most important skill
that students must master today. Successful
innovators have mastered the ability to learn on their own “in the moment” and
have the foresight to apply that knowledge in new ways. To be a successful
science teacher you have to make it fun for kids and that means making it
theirs. Students have ownership over
what they are learning and they develop a commitment and resilience to follow
through on these discoveries.
