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I'm a fan of project based learning, and I'm trying to use it more frequently within my own classroom. For science, I teach an astronomy course for 75 minutes daily to a group of students grades 4-6. Do you think a real-life research project/project based lesson is too high level for a group of students ages 10-12 years? Any advice or recommendations for increasing their responsibility and accountability in the classroom? Thanks!

Hi Nora, I don't think I can offer you any advice at this point because I'm actually an undergrad student studying to become an elementary science teacher. I'm enrolled in a course this semester called Teaching Science in Elementary School and one of our assignments is to come up with a two week project based learning lesson. I'm new to NSTA, and I had never heard of project based learning before this class, so I'm really interested in how familiar you are with project based learning. How often do you use it, and for what types of science topics? Thanks! Mariam

There is another thread in this Forum entitled "STEM project based learning activities" that has some good ideas that might help you. Also put "project based learning" in the search for forums. You should find lots of ideas. Good luck.

Thank you very much Betty. I will be sure to look at the resources posted to that forum. I'm sure they will be very helpful.

Absolutely not! And if it can be sevice based- what a great way to connect kids to the community!

Hi Nora, Project-based learning is valuable for students of all ages. The trick is to have a project that is rich and engaging for the students. I teach middle school and have found students are capable of doing higher level work if they are interested and hands-on. Throughout the forums you will find a lot of activities that will help you that are problem-based. If you do a search from the search box within the forums, “Find Topics and Users” with the keyword search “project based” you come up with a lot of threads that have really good ideas within them. If you peruse the blue topic headlines, you should find areas that interest you. These were the results I got, http://learningcenter.nsta.org/discuss/search.aspx?term=project%20based As for increasing responsibility and accountability, the key is consistency. Keep reinforcing the rules and expectations and the kids will do well. I would love to hear how it goes.

Hands-on activities and inquiry-based learning is one of best and most recommended ways of teaching/learning science. Because there is a vast amount of material to cover, these strategies help students and teachers with the grasping of the content material. Science is a subject that is learned best through experimentation.