Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own "rules" and "mental models," which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences.

The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the "right" answers and regurgitate someone else's meaning.

Guided discovery, an approach to instruction and learning, will help students personalize the concepts under study, creating an understanding that cannot be matched using any other method of instruction. The teacher must guide the students toward the discovery. This can be accomplished by providing appropriate materials, a conducive environment, and allotting time for students to discover.

Guided discovery greatly impacts instruction. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ‘set’ the student up to make the desired discovery. The teacher must provide all the necessary background knowledge to lead the student to the discovery. The student must realize the method(s) to be used to make the discovery. To assure this, the teacher may demonstrate what the students are expected to do. Thus, guided discovery becomes the goal of the lesson.

Here is an example of a guided discovery lesson, the lesson‘s objective being the concept of magnetic poles attracting and repelling each other. The teacher must first provide the basic vocabulary, magnetism, magnetic field, north and south poles, attract, and repel. Then the teacher may demonstrate what happens when two magnets attract each other and two magnets repel each other. Next the students’ guided discovery takes over. Students are given a variety of magnets, a variety of materials to test magnetism, and the time needed to ‘play’ with the magnets and materials. As students experience the affects of magnetism they will now construct their own understanding of the concepts, This will result in a much higher level of learning and understanding than a lecture or teacher demonstration.

Observation is the basis for all learning. Teachers know that students learn best when they include more than one of the five sense in their student’s lessons.

Observation is the taking in of information by the body and becoming aware of that information. One does regularly hear or see things without observing them. For example the sound of the air conditioning may be around us all the time, but we only observe it when it is out of the ordinary. This important distinction should be presented to the students. Our awareness is our mind’s thinking about it.

We use all five of our senses to observe; see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Each sense observes different information and gathers it differently. Tell students how it is our nervous system that helps us become aware of our observations by sending the messages to the brain. Then our brain decides what to think about that message. In other words, “What did I learn from this sensory information?” The first question our brain discerns is “Do I know what it is?“ If the response is “Yes”, then the brain can decide what to do with that information.

If the brain cannot identify the sensory information then it will try to compare the observation to something already known. In order to learn, the student must take in the information and assimilate it into his own understanding.

Of course, multiple senses are regularly called upon to help gather information to help in the decision making process. For example, if you are served a food you have never tasted, you will use your sight and smell before you decide to taste it. If your sight and smell cannot verify that it may taste good, then you will not taste it.

Teachers may then develop the idea of classification. Scientists must classify known and new items in order to aid in their identification and comparison using specific attributes.

Mystery Bags or Boxes - Place usual and unusual items in a brown lunch bag, grocery bag, or cloth bag. Use items of different sizes, weights, and textures. Each child could secretly bring a small item from home for this activity. Students use their sense of touch to observe what is in the bag.

1) Students may feel the bag to guess what is inside.
2) Students may reach inside without looking and guess what is inside.
3) Students can hold the bag to observe its shape and weight.

Possible items: cooked and uncooked pasta, rice, coins, balloons, markers, shoelace, CD, clay, pine cone, toys, building pieces, shoe, cup, bowl, chalk, salt, ball, jacks, candle, beanie baby, brush, toothbrush, sock, washcloth, or ???

Observe the Room: Allow students to look around the room and then go outside and ask specific questions about what is in the classroom and what is on the bulletin boards and walls. For example: How many chairs are in each row? What color is an object? What does the poster say? How many chalkboard erasers are there? Where is an object? What does the floor or ceiling look like? What is on the blue bulletin board? What is on the math bulletin board?

Older students - Have the students observe the room at the end of the day. Then after they leave make some changes to the room; add items, remove items, or move items around. As their first activity the next morning have the students write down what has changed. This is a great first week activity.

Always make sure there are some changes that are easily noticed such as moving a large piece of furniture or turning a poster upside down.

Observation Walk: Go for a walk around the school. After returning to the classroom ask questions what the students saw. For example, What color was??? What was a person doing? What was the person wearing? What was the weather like? My last question is always, “How many steps did you take on the walk?

This can become an Estimation Walk by asking how many of this or that. For example, How many,,, Doors in the hallway? Tables in the cafeteria? Bikes in the bike rack? Leaves on a tree? Books in the library?

Good estimation involves both observation and inference.

Observing Forces: Most forces are invisible. We can only see the effect the force has on its surroundings. For example, you cannot see wind until it is blowing something. The mild wind may not appear if it is blowing upon a large building while it will appear if it is blowing a small tree.

Magnetism: Do a brief demonstration and lesson introducing the terms: magnetism, magnetic field, poles, attract, and repel. Then allow students through guided discovery to construct their own knowledge of magnetism using observation. Students may put together magnets to feel they attract and repel, move things with magnets, test what is attracted by a magnet, test the distance of the magnetic field, and test the strength of a magnet by seeing through what materials the magnet will attract. For example, how many sheets of paper will it attract through or will it attract through my desk top or my hand?

Sound Lesson Plan
Objective: Using guided discovery, students will be able to see, hear, and feel sound. Students will learn that sound is a vibration.

Materials: tuning forks, balloons, bell, glasses, jars, pans, pie plates, clear pie plate, overhead projector, water, wire clothes hanger, string, paper cups, instruments
Initiating Activity: The teacher blows up a large balloon and makes a sound with it by squeezing the top as air is released. “What is making the sound?”

Activities:
1) The teacher blows up the balloon and ties it. “Not only can you hear sound, you can feel it.“ The teacher walks around the room and allows students to feel the balloon vibrate as the student talks into the balloon. The term vibration is introduced.
2) The teacher shows and talks about a tuning fork. As she talks the teacher walks around the room placing the tuning fork near students’ ears and turning it 90 degrees,
3) The teacher demonstrates the correct use of a tuning fork, tapping it once on the heel of your shoe.
4) The teacher then shows how the tuning fork sounds when it touches another object or material such as a glass, bottle, metal sink, or desk.
5) The teacher shows we can see the vibration by touching the tuning fork into a pan of water. For a vivid demonstration, use a glass pan or pie plate of water on the overhead projector. [Do not allow the students to use the water on the overhead projector.]

Divide the class in half. Assign partners.
6) One half Guided Discovery: The students will work with a partner using one tuning fork. The students will use the tuning fork on a variety of materials to see, hear, and feel sound.
7) One half Make paper cup telephones

Materials 6 ounce paper cups, string, paper clips
1) Poke a hole in the bottom center of the cup. 2) Cut a 6 to 10 foot piece of string 3) For both cups, put string from outside to inside of the cup. 4) Tie the string to paper clip to hold the string inside the cup.

Extensions:
1) Discuss how humans produce sound and how humans hear.
2) Discuss the speed of sound and breaking the sound barrier.  Compare the speed of sound to the speed of light.
3) Observe how sound travels through different mediums: liquids, solids, and gasses.
4) Make a three rubber band guitar.

Materials: Cardboard approx. 8” x 12”, rubber bands
Hold the cardboard with the 8” side to your left. On the left cut a 1/4” slit at 2, 4, and 6 inches. On the right, at 2” cut a 1” slit; at 4” cut a 3” slit, and at 6” cut a 5” slit. Place rubber bands from left to right in the slits.

Play.

5) Make a straw flute. [For older students] Material: soda straw
    Have the students chew flat one end of the straw. Cut the flat end into a V.
    Inset the cut V between your lips and vibrate it like a musical reed.
6) Use a slinky or giant spring to show waves and discuss wave theory.
7) Discuss echoes, energy reflection.
8) Discuss how different instruments produce sounds.

After gaining the ability to perceive cause and effect relationships then students should be encouraged to think creatively to develop an inference from an observation or set of circumstances. A simple activity that promotes critical thinking and creativity is listing two words and asking “What do they have in common?” While students may easily see differences among items, finding similarities will be much more challenging. This activity also promotes oral communication and explaining your answer. This may done individually, with a partner, small groups, or even as a whole class brainstorming session. I use this activity as part of my students’ first assignments as they come in the morning. Students are asked to write an answer and then we discuss their responses as a whole class. See appendix p. 26 for Word Pairs list.

Teachers should accept any answer that may be explained as a commonality, being sure students only deal with the attributes of the items and not what a person could do with them. For example, for “bell and whistle” I would accept that both are “made of metal” or “make a sound” but would not allow “I own both of them.”

SCAMPER is an excellent classroom activity which encourages students to think creatively. In this activity the student looks at an object and develops original ideas about the object and different uses of the object. SCAMPER is an acronym which helps direct students in this process.

Substitute some aspect of it
Combine elements with something else
Adapt or Alter an aspect of it
Minify or Magnify an aspect of it
Put some part of it to other uses
Eliminate an aspect of it
Reverse an aspect of it

Scamper may be used as an independent, small group, or whole class activity.
|Students must be allowed to brainstorm ideas, making it clear that all ideas must be accepted. I usually have the students work independently for 5 - 7 minutes, then share their ideas with the class. Teachers may use small groups and develop a scoring system, giving a point for each idea that no other group has written.

[See Appendix p. 27 for Scamper worksheet]

Fossils: Students learn about fossils and how they are connection to the past. Students are given fossils and must infer the type of plant or animal that made it.

Extensions:
1) Students make plaster of Paris fossils
2) Students make fossil rubbings either by using durable fossils or using commercial rubbing plates.

Tree Rings: Students learn about the growth of trees by looking at cut sections of a tree trunk. Observing the tree rings, students make inferences concerning the growth of the tree from year-to-year and what might have happened during those ‘good’ or ‘bad’ years of growth.

Extensions:
1) Students work in small groups to place historical dates on a large cut of a tree trunk. In order to protect the tree trunk, students may use small bits of clay, a toothpick, and a small flag giving the important event.

Skulls and Skeletons: Students will learn about different groups of animals by their classification, such as birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Students are then shown pictures of animals’ skeletons and infer the animal‘s identity.

Students learn how to look at an animal’s skull for information leading to its classification or identification. Students may observe the location and structure of the eyes, the teeth and structure of the mouth, the size of the brain, and the possible location of the backbone. Then using models or real skulls, the student must infer characteristics of the animal based on the skull.

Owl Pellets: Owl Pellets are nuggets of owl regurgitation within which are the parts of animals that the owl cannot digest. Dissecting an owl pellet reveals many bones, usually from several different animals. Based on these bones the students can infer the owl’s diet, and get a very real glimpse of a food chain.

An experiment is an operation carried out under controlled conditions in order to discover an unknown effect or law, to test or establish a hypothesis, or to illustrate a known law.

Scientists typically apply their observation skills during an experiment. An experiment is any kind of trial that enables scientists to control and change at will the conditions under which events occur. It can be something extremely simple, such as heating a solid to see when it melts, or something highly complex, such as bouncing a radio signal off the surface of a distant planet. Scientists typically repeat experiments, sometimes many times, in order to be sure that the results were not affected by unforeseen factors.

Most experiments involve real objects in the physical world, such as electric circuits, chemical compounds, or living organisms. However, with the rapid progress in electronics and technology, computer simulations can now carry out some experiments. Experimentation using computer simulations offers many advantages. Simulations allow experiments to be conducted without any risks, are less expensive, allow students to easily change variables, and allow students to conduct experiments that could not be done in in the classroom such as creating a wind tunnel.

When doing experiments in the classroom, it is important for students to predict the outcome of the test. Always write the predictions down. When applicable, allow students to change their predictions as the test progresses.

The young scientist must understand that experiments have controls and should only test one variable. Controls are the parts of the experiment that do not change; while the variable is the part of the experiment that does change, the part that is being tested. For example, to design an experiment to test which laundry detergent cleans the best, many controls must be set. The controls to be considered are water temperature, washing machine, stains, type and color of fabric, and length of washing. Once the scientist controls all those elements, then only one variable will be tested, the type of laundry detergent.

* Write down what you expect to happen before you try your experiment.
* Be specific! Make a chart of the numbers that you are predicting and give reasons for your guesses.
* Include other guesses such as height, color, condition, size, time, etc.
* Begin a daily diary recording the progress of your experiment.
* Be sure to record numbers and observations for each day.
* Give a detailed explanation of how you will conduct the experiment to test your hypothesis.
* Be clear about the variables (elements of the experiment that change to test your hypothesis) versus your controls (elements of the experiment that do not change).
* Be very specific about how you will measure results to prove or disprove your hypothesis. You should include a regular timetable for measuring results or observing the projects (for example, every hour, every day, every week).
* Your procedure should be like a recipe - Another person should be able to perform your experiment following your procedure. Test this with a friend or parent to be sure you have not forgotten anything.

Inclined Plane Raceway: Students test free wheeling cars (How Wheels) as they travel down an inclined plane set at different angles of incline. For an inclined plane you may use meter sticks, a thin piece of plywood, or even a narrow table.

Students change the incline, higher or lower, to see how it affects the car’s speed and distance it travels.

Extensions:
1) Have students test their own force and control as they try to roll a car a specified distance. Using the floor, draw a chalk line (the starting line) at one end of the room, then about 6 - 8 feet away draw a second line (the finish line).
Measure 2 -3 feet beyond the finish line and then place a line of pencils or paintbrushes. The challenge, roll a car from behind the starting line with just enough force to have it stop between the finish line and the paintbrushes.
Change the distances to make it more or less challenging.

How much weight will a raft hold?: Make a simple raft using four craft sticks laid side to side. Then glue one stick diagonally over the sticks to hold them together. Now, cover the entire raft with aluminum foil. Use a storage bin, large plastic bowl, or small pool to float the raft. Now, place weights on the raft to test how much weight it will hold. [I used a
5 lb. box of washers for this purpose.]

Extensions:
1) Build a different raft and test it. Do bigger rafts hold more? If it is the same size but 2 layers thick, does it make a           difference?
2) What if we use a different material to cover the raft? Does plastic wrap make a difference?
3) Does the depth of the water matter?

How much water will a diaper hold? Use a large disposable diaper. Fill a quart jar or large flask with water. For effect, color the water yellow with food coloring. Now have the students predict how much of the water the diaper will hold, absorb. Pour the water, a little at a time, onto the diaper as the diaper sits on a table, giving time for the water to absorb. After each pouring, pick up the diaper to show it is not leaking. Also note, the part that would be touching the baby is dry. Keep a running total of the amount of water poured into the diaper.

After all the water has been poured in, cut the diaper in pieces to observe what is inside the diaper that absorbed the water.

Extensions:
1) Compare how much water a small, medium, and large diaper holds.
2) Compare diapers of different manufacturers.

Is a material an insulator or conductor of electricity?: Use a toy peeping chicken that can be found in toy stores and in most stores around Easter. The chicken peeps when a person places each of two fingers on a metal ring under the chicken. It works because our body conducts electricity and completes and electrical circuit. First, show this to the students. Next, have all the students make a large circle holding hands. Have two students let go of their hands and have each student put one finger on the metal ring under the chicken. The teacher may want to help hold the chicken. The chicken will peep as every student in the circle helps complete the circuit. To prove this, have any two students let go of each other’s hands and the chicken will stop peeping.

Now let’s experiment. Decide on what material you want to test for electrical conductivity. Even better, have the students decide on the material. To test the material, have two students let go and hold the material in each hand to complete the circuit. For example, to test a piece of string, two students let go of their hands and each one now holds the end of the string between them.

HINTS: 1) Always be sure that all students are holding hands
               2) Always be sure the two students touching the chicken are not touching each other’s hands.

Extensions:
1) Use several small groups, and several chickens, to test the materials instead of one large group.
2) Is there a limit regarding how many people may be in the circle to complete the circuit and have the chicken peep? You may need to include other classes for this test.

Drawing conclusions allows the scientist to pull together everything he knows, learned, and did to reach a logical assumption of what has happened during the experiment. The conclusion should be based on background information, observations, inferences, and experimentation. If a conclusion cannot be developed, then any one of the four steps should be revisited, seeking more information.

Teachers beware. Students may develop excellent rationale and still arrive at an incorrect conclusion. Scientists do this all the time. Students need to know even incorrect conclusions are valuable. Once we know what something ‘is not’, then we will be closer to knowing what something ‘is’.

The scientist now assesses the entire process and determines the results of the process.

Over many years researchers have developed a method that allows a scientist to have an orderly and acceptable way to prove or disprove their theories. This is what we call the Scientific Method. There are many arguments and ideas that are non-scientific and do not follow the scientific method. An example of this type of thinking goes like this: "Flying Saucers must be in the sky because you can't prove that they aren't" This reasoning is not scientific. The real scientific question would be stated, " I think that there may be flying saucers in the sky and I will design and run an experiment to see if my idea is correct". Scientists may argue over the experimental procedure and conclusions but there will be method and data to discuss.

Select a Topic
Remember a Science Fair Project is an experiment to find an answer to a question, not just showing what you know. As I demonstrated with the flying saucer argument, not all statements are scientific and the scientific method won't be useful to everything. Be sure and propose a question or problem that can be formulated in terms of hypothesis that you can test.

State your Purpose
What are you trying to discover? Define your variables (parts of your experiment that will change). Doing this that will help you find your answer. You should choose one variable that you can control (called the "independent variable") and another variable that you can accurately measure and will change in response to changes in your independent variable. This is your "dependent variable". Then, you must be able to control your other variables or your experiment could be flawed (you can't trust the data).

Do your Research
Find out about what you want to experiment with. Read books, magazines, browse the WEB, ask teachers, professors or scientists. You need to learn what is already known about your topic. Keep track of where you got your information from and develop a reference list.

State Your Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a question that has been stated so it can be tested by an experiment. For example: "I think that plants will grow differently under different colored lights. I think that they will grow best under green light because they are green." Then, you design an experiment to test this hypothesis.

Develop an Experimental Procedure
Select only one element to change in each experiment. Don't forget things that can be changed are called variables. Change something that will help you answer your questions and keep the others fixed. You must be able to explain the variable changes and measure it. Then you run the experiment without these changes. This is called the control experiment. This allows measurement of change.

Perform the Experiment and Record Data
When you do experiments, record all measurements made. Data can be amounts of chemicals used, how long something is. Qualitative data is also useful and should be recorded. For example, it smelled bad, the color changed, it got moldy.

Analysis
Put your data into graphs and tables. Are there patterns? Do statistics if you know how. This will help you understand your experiment and produce a conclusion.

Conclusion
Use the analysis of your experimental data and observations to try to answer your original question about your hypothesis ("Will plants grow better under green light?"). Was the hypothesis correct? Was the hypothesis incorrect? You may have surprised yourself and disproved your own hypothesis. This is still good science and valuable information. Your experiment is still valid. Don't be disappointed if you proved your idea incorrect, be happy you ran a successful experiment and gained knowledge. This is the mark of a scientist and you still have a good Science Fair Project!

1. Selecting A Topic
The first step in preparing a good science fair project is to select a topic for your project. Being the first 'hurdle' a student faces when starting a science fair project and they are often faced with quite a dilemma. Choosing a good project is a very important because is can make the difference between a good and excellent project. First of all, you should pick a topic you are interested in. Secondly, it doesn't have to be complicated. Students often select complicated projects and then end up not fully understanding the concepts or even giving up on the project.

2. Research your Topic
After selecting your topic, learn everything about it. Books on your topic can most likely be found in your local library or bookstore. The best source for information is here on the Internet. You can use the many search engines available to find information or try our Science Links page with a vast amount of links to various science related sites on the Internet.

3. Make A Plan
Once you consider yourself an 'expert' about your topic, make a plan as to how you will conduct your experiment. Your plan should include the following:
* The purpose of your experiment
* The variable(s) or the things that you are going to change during the experiment.
* Your Hypothesis or what you think the outcome of the project will be.
* A detailed procedure outlining how you will conduct the experimentation.

4. Conduct the Experiments
The next step is to follow the plan that you have written. While conducting the experiments keep detailed notes on everything that you observe. You may even want to take pictures or make sketches of your observations. These notes are vital to your experiment because they are needed when you write your report and make your display.

5. Analyze Your Results
Once you are finished with the experiment, organize your notes. You may want to recopy your notes so that they are more organized and can be easily understood by others. Then, analyze them. Ask yourself, what happened, did the results agree with your hypothesis, and so on. Make graphs and charts to represent the data to help you analyze it.

6. Write A Report
Write a detailed report about your project. Tell exactly what you did, how you did it, and what you discovered. Be sure you write all about your plan and your experiment. Include your data, and perhaps some charts and graphs to help readers interpret the information. Be sure you also include some of the background information you learned.

7. Make your Display
The Display is crucial to your success at the fair because it tells about your project. The display must be neat and well organized. It should include background information, the problem, your hypothesis, your procedure, your results, your conclusion, your report, and graphs and charts. You can also include photos or drawings of your experiments.

8. Rehearse Your Presentation
When you make your presentation to the judges, it is important that you are prepared and know what you are going to say before you have to say it. By rehearsing your presentation, you get an opportunity to 'work the bugs out' and become to feel comfortable talking about your project. You should start out rehearsing by yourself and then find volunteers to be mock judges and present it to them. You will calmer and more composed on the science fair day if you are prepared and know what you are going to say.

9. Do your BEST!
At the science fair, try to be as calm and professional as possible. Know what you are talking about and be confident, you will do fine!!!

Balancing Clown
Materials:
Clown patterns for tracing or two copies per student
Scissors
Crayons / markers
Glue
2 pennies per student

Balancing Cat
Materials and directions same as above.
Experiment with the placement of one or two pennies inside the cat’s tail as you glue the two patterns together.
This principle of lowering the center of gravity is employed by a tightrope walker using a long horizontal pole. If the pole is long enough, the walker’s center of gravity can be lowered to, and even below the tightrope.

1 ea.             How to Do Science Experiments [Ace]                                    $27.00
1 ea.             Sounds Around Us [Dale Seymour]                                         $15.00
1 ea.             Science on a Shoestring [Dale Seymour]                                  $20.00
1 set             Look Once Look Again 12 books [School Specialty]              $29.00
1 box            Asst. Rubber Bands 1 lb. [School Specialty]                            $ 5.00
1 set             Student Mirrors                                                                      $10.00
1 ea.             String [Wal-Mart]                                                                   $ 2.00
2 ea.             Magnifiers 2” Diameter [Edmund Scientific‘s]                          $ 8.00
1 ea.             Alcomax Magnet [Edmund Scientific‘s]                                  $12.00
2 sets            Color Ring Magnets [Edmund Scientific‘s]                              $ 8.00
1 ea.             Super Slinky [Edmund Scientific‘s]                                         $ 8.00
1 set             2 Magnets Showing Poles [Edmund Scientific‘s]                     $ 9.00
1 set             Tuning Forks [Edmund Scientific‘s]                                       $28.00
2 ea.             Peeping Chickens                                                                  $ 8.00
2 boxes         Craft Sticks S&S Recreation                                                 $ 8.00
6 feet             Magnetic Tape                                                                     $ 3.00
100 ea.         9 oz. Paper Cup                                                                    $ 3.00
30 each         Owl Pellets [Pellets, Inc.]                                                     $40.00
1 each           Food Chains Transparency                                                    $ 3.50
1 each           Bone Sorting Chart Poster                                                     $ 3.50
                                                                                                  TOTAL  $ 250.00