Generating and testing hypothesis may be approached through a inductive or deductive manner, and the student should clearly explain their hypothesis and conclusions. The teacher should guide the student with a variety of structured tasks such as:
- systems analysis where students study parts of the system;
- problem solving, the students look for various solutions considering the obstacles posed by the problem;
- historical investigation where the students construct hypothesis about historical events;
- invention, examine a need and investigate a solution for the need;
- experimental inquiry, students observe phenomenon and make a hypothesis on why or how the event happened;
- decision making, students define criteria and apply weight to the various criteria to decide which choice makes the most sense.
Technology can play an important part in testing hypothesis because with these new inventions students are able to spend more time on interpreting the data rather than gathering it. The technology that may be used are the spreadsheets, data collection tools, web resources.
Constructivism is a philosophical theory of knowledge where each person sees the world and objects based upon their own previous experiences and construct their own meaning among others.
Constructionism is a learning theory based on the experience of building, something. The student is actively involved in their own learning process and the teacher assists instead of transmitting knowledge. The student build external artifacts that they may share with other people.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program seven. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Lorna to Maria
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the use of spread sheets as a great tool to implement while teaching different topics. I have never really taught any topic before using spread sheets and I tried teaching solving systems of equations using spread sheet and it was great for both the students and the teacher. They did not enjoy it at first but they later learned to appreciate the ease of using the spread sheet and getting their graphs completed quickly. I will always use that method to teach that topic from now on.
I do wish I could find more activities, but I believe that the rush of teaching 145 students daily and completing my masters course does not afford me a lot of think time. However with this wealth of information, I am looking forward to the summer months where I will be able to develop numerous PBL activities, for a lot of my classes.
Maria,
ReplyDeleteI recall your global temperature project from a recent class in which you had students gather information from the Web on ozone, and temperature, from various parts of the world. This project really addressed lots of learning theories all at once. Students could pick countries from which their ancestry came from, or cities they were just interested in. They established collaborative links with students of other cultures, and they gathered data from their regions to be built into a presentation to the class. All of this, I think, makes your global warming project an excellent example of PBL.
Perhaps Lorna could think of a math project in a similar vein (over the summer months, of course!). Sunrise and sunset times for different cities, day length, or other things come to mind besides temperature. All of these would produce cyclic data if gathered for long enough times. I can't think of much of anything that might be linear, but summer is a long time to contemplate!
I am glad to know that you are having success with your spreadsheets, they are very valuable tools for us to use, especially in areas where we need to have our data organized.
ReplyDeleteI understand perfectley well how it is difficult with all the work we have on our hands to get interesting information for good projects for PBL. I now about a site that may have some projects that may interest you. http://mathforum.org/algebra/alg.projects.html. Sometimes chemistry and physics teachers work together with math teachers creating joint projects that may be interesting both for the students and for the teachers.
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteYes that is true. The students love that project. Have you tried it out already?
I agree with you totally when you suggest that Lorna could use a math project similar to my global temperature project. She could even try it out for cities all over the world just as I do because she would have different sunrise and sunset hours depending on the time of year. For example she could have a group of students monitoring a country like Norway which in the summer months will have sun from 3am to about 10:30pm and in the winter months have a situation where they would have twilight for a few hours and the rest of the time they would have darkness. Students would have to compare data depending on the time of year, latitude and longitude.
Thanks for remembering Tim.
Maria
Maria and Tim
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions guys. I like the idea Tim of collecting data concerning sunrise and sunset data from different countries and then use the data for linear graphs. Maria thanks for the website it does have some good ideas that I will try.
Yes Tim, I will definitely be using the summer to develop more PBL activites.
Maria:
ReplyDeleteI agree that technology plays a very important role in testing testing hypothesis. Students can develop and test hypothesis as they develop their own conclusions as to what may happen. Technology allows not only students but teachers the freedom to work doing things in ways in which assist them in building projects.
Good post!
Trisha Smart (Faulkner)
Maria to Trisha,
ReplyDeleteYes, technology also gives us the time to do what is important in education as we are able to use these tools to organize what otherwise would have to be done by the students, leaving less time for project building.
Maria