“I have to do a science project.” These words can produce a feeling of dread for students and parents, with visions of Styrofoam planets or tri-folds for science fairs. But this month’s issue of The Science Teacher describes projects as an integral part of a science class, not as add-ons to be completed at home or for extra credit.
The editor notes that “in a well-designed project, students engage in extended inquiry by addressing complex, authentic questions and creating a meaningful product or artifact.” The teacher serves as a facilitator, resource, and coach. The process also involves the three Cs: critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.
Should project-based science be limited to just the “better” students? I’ve found that some of the “better” students were used to doing well in science by memorizing and following directions. They were intimidated by open-ended activities or projects because there was no correct answer or outcome. Some of the more reluctant students blossomed when they were pursuing topics of interest to them and could express their creativity. All students would benefit from some guidance, scaffolding, and modeling when starting these projects. Simply telling students to “do a project” without any guidelines, examples, and rubrics would be frustrating to both students and teachers.
So, use this issue of The Science Teacher for guidance if you want to try this approach. The article Project-Based Science Instruction: A Primer provides a definition, a rationale and a description of this process, with a sample project plan. Planning for Success and Problem-Based Learning Tools have practical tips and advice, the best advice being to start simple and to allow for some mistakes the first time! The Driving Question Board shows how to guide students through the process of asking a driving question for the project (a necessary step, since students are more accustomed to answering a teacher’s question rather than asking their own).
Other resources include Project-Based Science from the University of Michigan that describes five characteristics of project-based science, checklists from Project-Based Learning, and Project-Based Science Teaching with some examples of projects to get a class started. Part of the process is finding background information on topics. SciLinks can be of assistance here. For example, three articles in this issue describe projects related to geckos, herpetology, and invasive species. The SciLinks codes TST110801 (Herpetology) and TST110802 (Invasive Species) are examples. Don’t forget that students can have passwords to SciLinks, too. And check back through previous issues of The Science Teacher (as well as Science Scope and Science and Children for more examples of projects and potential questions or topics that you could adopt or adapt for your students.
Part of the process of project-based science is the creation of a tangible product by the students to demonstrate their learning. Written reports are certainly one type of product, but let the students use their imagination (and the technology available to them).
But what about all of the material we feel obligated to “cover” and the class time that would be spent on projects? I would certainly look at the state standards and district curriculum for guidance on topics that students could learn about as they worked on projects. My state’s standards have a whole section on the processes of science. The concepts here could be reinforced through project-based science.