Since knowledge of science is important to the progress of human kind, as well as necessary for individual’s daily life, science should be taught in a way in which they will learn and retain scientific information, develop critical thinking skills, and enjoy learning.  Enjoyment in learning is crucial in hopes of influencing students to become excited, and therefore more motivated to gain knowledge about science.  The methodology that supports students critical thinking, motivation, and most effectively enables students to retain information is the social constructivist model of teaching. 

The social constructivist model emphasizes that students take an active role in constructing meaning.  In this model of learning, students will ask and refine questions related to a certain topic; they will predict and explain the subject, and will interact with concrete materials.  For instance, students will create a driving question of their own choosing.  After creating a question, the students will discuss the topic to make a prediction.  Then the students will observe physical materials, or research topics, such as an interactive website.  Allowing students to create their own question, make predictions, and interact with materials will foster higher level thinking amongst the students and allow them to make connections with prior knowledge.

            The social constructivist theory uses student’s prior knowledge in helping to plan out activities with help of multiple resources, apply concepts and skills to new situations, and are given time to allow students to reflect upon the material and consider how this information relates to their lives.  Studies have shown that students are better able to retain information when they have great involvement with concrete materials.  For instance, students will better remember experiences that have purpose with them, instead of abstract verbal and visual symbols addressed in a text book or lecture.  Since students retain more information when their activities are purposeful to them, it is beneficial to allow students to have ownership in their investigation.  This means that students should be able to help plan out the investigation.  For instance, in an investigation of “what makes plants grow,” students will select the types of plants, and how they will investigate certain plants. 

Students will use multiple resources such as text books, videos, and websites, anything that will give them more information on a topic.  As the students investigate the topic by doing their experiments, the students will observe the results of their investigations and be able to apply knowledge that they have learned before, as well as observe new information unfolding before them in their investigation.  As the student’s observe the results of their experiments, they will collaborate with other students discussing their investigations.  All of the activities involved in the investigations will be closely monitored by a teacher who will determine the student’s capabilities, and give individual assistance as needed.  After using their resources to find meaning, and discussing their findings with their peers, students will determine the answer to their driving question. 

Student’s developing their own solutions is imperative to the social constructivist model of learning.  Students using their new and prior knowledge together, and drawing connections will develop the student’s critical thinking skills.  Students will be forced to use reason to solve a dilemma.  The skill of critical thinking is a skill that applies to more subjects than just science, so the emphasis upon using higher levels of cognition will be beneficial for students in many topics of study.

Allowing student’s to have ownership in the activity alone will not influence a successful lesson; the student’s must understand why they are learning the information.  Often, one of the biggest complaints with students learning science is that they do not know why, and how they will use the information they are attempting to learn.  A main components of the social constructivist model is that students be given time to reflect upon their knowledge and be able to associate their knowledge with their own lives.  If students understand how science concepts influence their lives, they will have greater motivation to learn.  Students are very interested in the world around them, and the governing forces of their surroundings.  If students are able to relate information to their own lives, they will have a purpose for learning the material, and will not only be more motivated, but will retain the information longer because the information has meaning to the students personally.

The main thrust of this teaching philosophy is that students learn best when the investigation has purpose to the students.  If students have ownership in the lesson, they will take more pride in their successes, and therefore be more motivated.  By giving students ownership in the investigation, they will be allowed to think critically, and develop questions, predictions, and make conclusions using their own reason.  If the students understand how certain concepts affect their lives, students will enjoy and be more motivated.  Since allowing student’s ownership in the investigation develops a sense of purpose to student’s investigations, and meaningful, purposeful experiences create enjoyment and allow students to retain more information, the social constructivist model of teaching is the philosophy I will use for teaching science.