As many of you know, I have spent the past several summers creating science centres for a variety of grades. Having taught in combined grades for many years, I knew that there was a way not only for both grades to be active and engaged, but for the teacher to be able to deliver quality content for more than one science topic. Enter science centres. Back when I started teaching, I had to find or create the materials that would go inside the centres, and that made it really challenging. I used to say spending two weeks finding the materials and setting up the centres saved me several more weeks trying to use direct instruction for both grades. Using my knowledge of the curriculum, of instructional design and of having spent the last 27 years in education, I created centres that would make teaching and learning the science topics fun and engaging.
Science centers include investigations, experiments and activities for students to complete on a rotating basis. This is useful when there are not enough materials for an entire class, when you want to provide a choice of activities, or to provide alternative activities for interested students.
The centres include directions, and the activities have been created to allow most students to work in a small group.
Not all students are 100% ready for a different way of doing things. To begin you have to be willing to spend time introducing the centres. If you teach lower grades, you may have to directly teach how to work at a centre and start some centres that are easier to understand.
Are you concerned that students will not synthesize the "big ideas" using centres? You can pre-teach a mini-lesson before students work in the centres or make yourself a centre where you meet with small groups. You can teach/talk in a small group situation, while still monitoring the rest of the class.
How do you get started with centres? It's easy. I start with teaching the vocabulary and terminology the students will encounter during the unit. I project the illustrated word walls cards I have created and have the students create their own mini-dictionary in their notebooks. I encourage them to copy down the definitions and add illustrations to each entry. I have now updated all of the grades 3 to 6 illustrated word walls to include printable, fill in the blanks student pages in 2 sizes. You choose which size works best for you!
Student also created a cover page for their notebook. I think these are fantastic!
After discussions about the new vocabulary and what students already know about the topic and want to learn about the topic, we did some critical thinking and problem solving with the Save Fred investigation. I enjoy doing this before we start with centres the first time, so that I can see how the students work in pairs or small groups and how they approach hands-on investigations.
We are ready to start with centres on Monday! Here is how I set up my centres in my classroom.
I got the bins at a local store and after printing and laminating my centre cards, I added the materials needed and students will be ready to work anywhere in the classroom. They take the bin and materials, work with a partner and record their investigations.
This is how to print and set up the student booklets.
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| Printed booklet~ all pages folded in middle |
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| Print pages back to back, double sided |
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| Printed booklet seen from back |
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I use a bulldog clip to hold all the pages together.
If you staple, some of the full sized pages are difficult to use. |
My students use the booklets I have created to record their learning and then transfer the finished thinking into their notebooks. When we are finished the students have a wonderful artifact of all the hands-on, minds-on learning from the unit.
Before the students actually start working at your centres, these are some procedures you might want to consider teaching. I find that once students know what is expected of them, they are able to work more efficiently and effectively, and I can use my time to observe and assist.
After teaching procedures, I often use the Let's Read! centre cards to do whole class reading. I project the cards onto a screen and we read and discuss the information together as a class. I find that this helps to build prior knowledge before students work at the other centres. Students record what we have discussed on their Let's Read! recording page and now all of the students have completed one activity.
Teachers have asked me how do I assess the work completed by the students and what do I use for culminating assessments?
I assess the student work using a notebook rubric, and a variety of other tools.
For culminating tasks, I usually assess the Let's Inquire investigation and the Let's Create! hands-on task. I introduce the Let's Inquire! task to the class before we start the centres, so that when they finish a centre, they can work on their Let's Inquire! task independently. I provide books, iPads and classroom computers to facilitate students research.
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These are pictures of my friend Jeff Laythorpe's students as they delve into inquiry projects which are part of the
Hands-On, Minds-On Science Centres.
I sometimes keep the Let's Create! centre out of the rotation, and use it last for a culminating task. This way students will have already gathered a the prior skills and knowledge needed to complete the task with greater confidence. I have allowed students to work in pairs and small groups to complete the Let's Create! challenges, and I record my observations of them as they work towards solving the problem posed.
Let's Create! from Grade 5 Forces Acting on
Structures and Mechanisms.
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Click on the image below to download a FREE guide
to using centres in your classroom.
TO READ MORE ABOUT USING CENTRES
FOR TEACHING SCIENCE CLICK HERE.
