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Good Morning fellow teachers...I was wondering if any of you teach Science using small group instruction? If so how do you implement it in your classroom. Thank you!

Hello! I think it is essential to use different formats in a classroom. Whether it be individual work, working in groups, working with a partner, or whole class discussion. Science is a challenging subject to teach, but you should not be scared to try out science groups at all! As educators, we have to keep learning exciting. When the students work in groups, they are given the chance to learn from one another and collaborate! To satisfy your desire for small group instruction, sit with the group you are needing to teach a bit further. Talk to these students while the other students are working with their group. When dictating group work, clear instructions are essential. You may even want to write them up on the board for the class to refer back to as they work. If the students understand the project, they will not ask you a thousand questions while you are working with your small group. A simple task such as groups creating a boat out of foil and toothpicks can lead to a great lesson! Once the groups have created their boats, have a contest to see which boat could hold the most weight! Simple experiments in groups is a great idea to give you extra time to work with the students who are struggling without compromising time for the rest of the class. You can do it, go for it!

I love these ideas for improving science education with differentiated instructions. It is very important as educators to keep our students motivated and excited about learning while keeping them all on the same page at the same time. This is why small groups is a wonderful attribute to have in a science class or any subject. Thank you for posting

I think that it is very helpful to have many different types of groupings for students to be in when performing instruction. When you are doing a small group instruction, it is important to make sure that the rest of the students are doing an activity that is clearly stated with directions posted to lower the interruptions into the small group that you are working with. While with your small group you could be doing same activity but at a more guided pace. This way those that can work on their own or with other groups on their own without the teacher guidance. I would give them a more similar experiment to and create and then share with the class!

Small group instruction works best for me when I am teaching physical science concepts because there is a lot of experimentation that can be done for little cost. I find it hard to do much small group instruction during life science concepts; however, we frequently use elbow partners for peer to peer feedback. Adding a cast of characters to my teaching repertoire has helped to gain students' attention. For example, a French chef for mixing photosynthesis ingredients.