Problem-based learning helps create the needed 21st century problem solvers. Both problems and solutions are complex and involve thinking skills at all levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation. These skills combined with opportunities to solve real-world problems, both personal and societal, give students the tools to be successful problem solvers. -- back cover.
Includes complete lesson plans that align with the Next Generation Science Standards, covering Earth's landforms and water (grades K-8), rock cycle and plate tectonics (grades 6-12), weather (grades K-8), and astronomy (grades 6-8).
"This book presents a discussion of the PBL structure and its application for the K-12 physical science classroom. It also includes a collection of PBL problems developed as part of the Problem-Based Learning Project for Teachers, a National Science Foundation-funded professional development program that used the PBL framework to help teachers develop a deeper understanding of science concepts in eight different content strands. The problems presented in this book were developed by content experts who facilitated the workshops and revised the problems over the course of four iterations of the workshops"--
Problem-Based Learning in the Life Science Classroom, K- 12 offers a great new way to ignite your creativity. Authors Tom McConnell, Joyce Parker, and Janet Eberhardt show you how to engage students with scenarios that represent real-world science in all its messy, thought-provoking glory. The scenarios prompt K- 12 learners to immerse themselves in analyzing problems, asking questions, posing hypotheses, finding needed information, and then constructing a proposed solution. In addition to complete lesson plans supporting the Next Generation Science Standards, the book offers extensive examples, instructions, and tips. The lessons cover four categories: life cycles, ecology, genetics, and cellular metabolism. But Problem-Based Learning in the Life Science Classroom, K- 12 doesn' t just explain why, how, and when to implement problem-based learning (PBL). It also provides you with what many think is the trickiest part of the approach: rich, authentic problems. The authors facilitated the National Science Foundation- funded PBL Project for Teachers and used the problems in their own science teaching, so you can be confident that the problems and the approach are teacher tested and approved.
This book provides an introduction to the nature of collaborative action research, explains how to engage in the action research process, and offers readers insights into how collaborative action research may be embedded in everyday classroom practice. The latter objective will be accomplished by engaging the reader with four case studies about teachers who took part in collaborative action research. Each case study focuses on teacher beliefs about science teaching and learning, how school-based teams of teachers develop and implement plans of action in their classrooms, and how action research results in changes teacher learning and classroom practice. This book will be of interest to anyone who wishes to develop an understanding of or engage in collaborative action research, especially practitioners and teacher educators.
Like most good educational interventions, problem-based learning (PBL) did not grow out of theory, but out of a practical problem. Medical students were bored, dropping out, and unable to apply what they had learned in lectures to their practical experiences a couple of years later. Neurologist Howard S. Barrows reversed the sequence, presenting students with patient problems to solve in small groups and requiring them to seek relevant knowledge in an effort to solve those problems. Out of his work, PBL was born. The application of PBL approaches has now spread far beyond medical education. Today, PBL is used at levels from elementary school to adult education, in disciplines ranging across the humanities and sciences, and in both academic and corporate settings. This book aims to take stock of developments in the field and to bridge the gap between practice and the theoretical tradition, originated by Barrows, that underlies PBL techniques.
Engaging and motivating students--especially the least motivated learners--is a daily challenge. But with the process of problem-based learning (PBL), any teacher can create an exciting, active classroom where students themselves eagerly build problem-solving skills while learning the content necessary to apply them. With problem-based learning, students' work begins with an ill-defined problem. Key to this problem is how it explicitly links something important in students’ daily lives to the classroom. This motivational feature is vital as students define the what, where, and how of resolving the problem situation. Problem-based learning may sound potentially chaotic and haphazard, but it rests on the firm foundation of a teacher's work behind the scenes. The teacher develops a problem long before students see it, specifically choosing the skills and content the problem will emphasize and matching those to curriculum and standards. Though a PBL problem will have no "right" answer, the teacher structures the experience so that specific learning takes place as students generate the problem-solving steps, research issues, and produce a final product. The teacher guides without leading, assists without directing. Note: This product listing is for the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the book.
What is science for a child? How do children learn about science and how to do science? Drawing on a vast array of work from neuroscience to classroom observation, Taking Science to School provides a comprehensive picture of what we know about teaching and learning science from kindergarten through eighth grade. By looking at a broad range of questions, this book provides a basic foundation for guiding science teaching and supporting students in their learning. Taking Science to School answers such questions as: When do children begin to learn about science? Are there critical stages in a child's development of such scientific concepts as mass or animate objects? What role does nonschool learning play in children's knowledge of science? How can science education capitalize on children's natural curiosity? What are the best tasks for books, lectures, and hands-on learning? How can teachers be taught to teach science? The book also provides a detailed examination of how we know what we know about children's learning of scienceâ€"about the role of research and evidence. This book will be an essential resource for everyone involved in K-8 science educationâ€"teachers, principals, boards of education, teacher education providers and accreditors, education researchers, federal education agencies, and state and federal policy makers. It will also be a useful guide for parents and others interested in how children learn.
Science Education Through Multiple Literacies explores how the use of project-based learning in elementary science education fosters a lifelong scientific mindset in students. The book provides educators with the teaching practices to help students develop an overall science literacy that aligns with Next Generation Science Standards. Editors Joseph Krajcik and Barbara Schneider and the book’s contributors offer a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted approach to science learning. Multiple Literacies in Project-Based Learning (ML-PBL) interweaves scientific ideas and practices, language literacy, and mathematical thinking. ML-PBL supports the teaching of science by paralleling what scientists do: it engages students and their teachers in investigating real-world questions, constructing models, and using evidence to evaluate claims. The book presents compelling case studies of ML-PBL, how teachers use this approach, and how the ML-PBL transforms the classroom into an environment that builds and supports academic and student social-emotional learning. Representing both urban and suburban schools, the case studies include classroom observations, student and teacher interviews, and student artifacts to illustrate how to make science relevant in students’ lives. Krajcik and Schneider note that application of ML-PBL requires intentional instructional practices and new ways of thinking about what it means to learn. Easing this challenge, the editors equip elementary science teachers with curricular resources including high-quality instructional materials, professional-learning exercises, and formative assessments. Science Education Through Multiple Literacies provides the necessary elements to transform science teaching and learning so that students learn the skills to navigate with confidence through our complex world.
How do you get a fourth-grader excited about history? How do you even begin to persuade high school students that mathematical functions are relevant to their everyday lives? In this volume, practical questions that confront every classroom teacher are addressed using the latest exciting research on cognition, teaching, and learning. How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom builds on the discoveries detailed in the bestselling How People Learn. Now, these findings are presented in a way that teachers can use immediately, to revitalize their work in the classroom for even greater effectiveness. Organized for utility, the book explores how the principles of learning can be applied in teaching history, science, and math topics at three levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Leading educators explain in detail how they developed successful curricula and teaching approaches, presenting strategies that serve as models for curriculum development and classroom instruction. Their recounting of personal teaching experiences lends strength and warmth to this volume. The book explores the importance of balancing students' knowledge of historical fact against their understanding of concepts, such as change and cause, and their skills in assessing historical accounts. It discusses how to build straightforward science experiments into true understanding of scientific principles. And it shows how to overcome the difficulties in teaching math to generate real insight and reasoning in math students. It also features illustrated suggestions for classroom activities. How Students Learn offers a highly useful blend of principle and practice. It will be important not only to teachers, administrators, curriculum designers, and teacher educators, but also to parents and the larger community concerned about children's education.
