Krajcik

Overall, social constructivism says that when students are involved in constructing their own knowledge, they will have a better understanding of science concepts.The most important features of the social constructivist model are that students are able to be actively engaged, apply their knowledge, represent their knowledge in multiple ways, learn in a community, and partake in authentic tasks. These features all relate back to students being involved in their own learning instead of just passively taking in what the teacher says. By making the learning experience their own, it is more meaningful, therefore resulting in more learning.

There were a lot of ideas in this article, but some of them really stuck out to me as ones I would like to use in my future classroom. However, several questions also arose while I contemplated which ideas I would implement.  I like the idea of a problem-based classroom where students are searching for the answer to a relevant question. Encouraging discourse with students to help them understand what they know and to realize what questions they have is important as the first step towards beginning this project. I was unsure, however, of how to make this work smoothly. The question must be relevant to the student, but it also must facilitate the achievement of learning standards. Teachers can guide students towards a question about a certain topic, but it seems like this would result in students asking about something they don't really care about. Perhaps some projects throughout the year could be completely student-initiated, whereas others would require the teacher to spark some curiosity about an otherwise uninteresting topic.

I really like the idea of students using this project method to take action to improve their world. The Science Technology Society movement focuses on topics like health, population, resources, and the environment--all of these are avenues for projects which could have a real impact in the world. I think this provides for some of the most meaningful learning because students see a true purpose behind their lessons. Finding out the answer to a question is great if you're a curious person, but projects that improve the world show students that the lessons they learn in school can be applied to real-life siutations to promote change. One problem with the project method and a constructivist classroom, however, is that it takes up a lot of time. It's worrisome to think that important topics might not be covered, but I think that it's possible to integrate many science topics into one project.

I also thought that Dale's Cone of Experience was interesting, and I will pay attention to how I present concepts in class. The use of more concrete materials and less simple lecturing will help students be more active learners.  Self-evaluations and revising was another area of social constructionism that I found interesting because I know that a lot of kids hate these activities. It's probably a good idea to do self evaluations and revisions often so students get more used to them. Another important aspect of revisions is that students will be more willing to revise when their work will be public. If they are partaking in a meaningful, real-to-life project (such as organizing a recycling campaign for the school), other people will often see their work and they will want it to be good.

I will also strive to create a learning community in my classroom because kids learn best when they are discussing their ideas. The classroom needs to be a very social, comfortable place because otherwise some students will feel like they can't speak up. Another important idea is that students should be peer mentors working within each others' zones of proximal development. I love the idea of finding something that each student is good at and posting a sign which tells students who to go to with questions about certain topics or tasks. There is one problem with this, however. Even though lower level students benefit from the exchange, higher level students may be held back. They benefit from explaining topics because they get an increased understanding from talking about them, but it's important that they don't get stuck in a tutor role all the time.