CONSTRUCTIVISM-BASED ACTIVITIES USING HALLWAY GEOLOGY DISPLAYS IN INFORMAL SCIENCE EDUCATION

Learning beyond the classroom has expanded greatly in the last several years, to the point that today such opportunities are commonplace. Whether it involves a museum, science center, zoo, park, aquarium, or even just watching a TV documentary, the opportunities for what science educators refer to as free-choice learning or informal learning are boundless. At the University of Northern Iowa we have developed a series of informal learning activities utilizing the hallway displays in our Earth Science building. Although we have several types of displays featured in the hallways, we decided to begin by focusing on one of our more spectacular displays: a life-sized skeletal cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull, along with a complete skeletal model of a T. rex at a 1:10 scale, a cast of a claw and tooth, and an information center.

We have developed three levels of activities: grades K-2, grades 3-6, and grades 7-12. The activities guide students through an inquiry- and constructivism-based exercise that engages them in the investigation of evidence of whether T. rex was a predator or an opportunistic scavenger. All activities follow the recently developed Iowa Core Curriculum standards for each specific grade level. Although these activities can be done independently by students, non-students, or families, we find that they are best done with a facilitator leading the group and encouraging discussion and interaction as the activity progresses.

Our intended rationale for this study is to develop a constructivism-based activity that will encourage participants to build their own understanding of new ideas. We have developed our activities following Roger Bybee’s "Five E’s" philosophy. We use this approach because we believe it will promote extended learning, which may lead to a higher cognition and progression in the Earth Sciences.

Observations and informal evaluations of student groups who have participated in these activities indicate that there is much more learning taking place than when the displays are viewed without the activities. We have also observed that when these activities are teacher-led it facilitates the constructivistic learning process. We are currently continuing the process of assessing the effectiveness of our activities.