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Kris Correira, PA-C, MHP AtHomeScience.blogspot.com

Catholic homeschooling mom Other distractions

Married13 years 3 wonderful boys ages 12, 10, 8

I love learning in general, science in particular

Homeschool Connections Instructor College Instructor Physician Assistant Graduate student in Educational Administration in Higher Education

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The ONLY way you should do science The way you MUST do science to do it right The BEST way to do science for EVERYBODY! Embracement of modern philosophies or classroom paradigms A formula A call to radically change everything youre doing

Based in Constructivist Learning Theory

Charlotte Masons Science of Relations We learn better by doing

Hands-on learning Experiential learning

We learn by constructing our own meanings from our experiences Relativistic philosophy in general

Recent focus in science education literature More than just doing, though

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Investigating or exploring a topic

Not just learning about but also thinking about science

Basis of Scientific Method Similar to what a student would do for a project

Start with exploration, not explanation

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Confirmation Structured Guided Open

Description

Implementing

Students provided with questions and procedures Results known in advance Great for way to start to model how experiments are done Great to practice certain aspects, like data collecting

Kids expect science to always be in this format

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Description

Implementing

Provided kids with questions and procedures Kids come up with explanations based on results Structured program: do experiments first Add in experiments where results are not given

Results obvious to you may not be to your kids

Description

Implementation

Kids given question only They design the experiment and make conclusions Need some mastery of scientific method Project-based learning More time is needed to make adjustments and try again

Skills applicable beyond science

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Description

Implementation

Kids investigate any question of their choosing Take on the entire process by themselves

Can take on a lot of forms

Older kids with high interest in a topic Need time, space, and resources to explore

Depends on age of children Start simply

Encourage their interests

Do experiment before reading chapter in book Alter a completed or design a related experiment Add a simple supplemental activity Nature studies for outdoor lovers Physics contraptions for builders Kitchen chemistry for those who love to cook

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General Design Structure

Notebook

What do I know? What would I like to know? What did I learn? Keep track progress Writes thoughts and ideas Collect snippets of related topics

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AtHomeScience.blogspot.com tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/athomescience/ At Home Science on Facebook and Twitter

Uncle Paul and his nephews, Jules and Emile Several titles available at www.mainlesson.com/displayauthor.php?author=fabre
The Story Book of Science The Secret of Everyday Things The Wonder Book of Chemistry

The Chemical History of the Candle by Michael Faraday

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The Wonder Book of Chemistry

Experiment from

After the flame extinguishes, the water inside the jar is higher than the water in the bowl.

No setup, no mess, can be done for fun Discount with www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org Free

ExploreLearning Gizmos ($97/yr discounted from $149) Adaptive Curriculum ($50/yr discounter from $199) www.learningscience.org/ www.google.com/earth/explore/products/ phet.colorado.edu/ www.concord.org/activities www.physics.uoguelph.ca/applets/Intro_physics/kisalev/

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www.explorelearning.com
450+ Gizmos in Math and Science for grades 3 to 12 Student Sheets, teacher guides, assessments Wide variety of math and science topics Many with fun designs

adaptivecurriculum.com/us
Learning Objects, many interactive Choose math or science, middle or high school Student sheets, teacher guides, and assessments

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www.learningscience.org/
Learning Objects, many interactive Choose math or science, middle or high school Student sheets, teacher guides, and assessments

www.google.com/earth/explore/products/

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phet.colorado.edu/

Molecular Workbench

www.concord.org/activities mw.concord.org/modeler/

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www.physics.uoguelph.ca/applets/Intro_physics/kisalev

Not to be confused with Problem Based Learning Excitement by virtue of having a goal to accomplish Many available
Team from family or co-op can choose a project Internet-based

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www.soinc.org www.learner.org/jnorth bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu www.birds.cornell.edu/citsci/projects www.ciese.org/collabprojs.html lostladybug.org/index.php www.mos.org/fireflywatch/

www.soinc.org
23 events; team of up to 15; 2 students per event Knowledge, skill, building Level B (middle school) and Level C (high school) Most states have competitions

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www.learner.org/jnorth
Mystery class competition 10 Classes around the world Find location based on photoperiod and clues Submit answers and see results the following week Other observation-based projects

bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2009-016
You register for a time slot Collect and mail in insect specimens View with and even control Bugscope from home computer Bottom link is to our co-op session from 2009

bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu

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www.birds.cornell.edu/citsci/projects

www.ciese.org/collabprojs.html
The Noon Day Project

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lostladybug.org/index.php

www.mos.org/fireflywatch/

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