Blended Learning Unit for Exploring Our Universe

Blended Learning Unit for Exploring Our Universe

Over the past several years that I have taught Science 9, I always assigned a major independent project to cover the outcomes in the Exploring Our Universe unit. Since this unit is a favorite with my students, I began to integrate some instructional pieces above and beyond their major projects, and ended up with a loose version of a blended learning unit. Unlike the other units in Science 9, Exploring Our Universe lends itself well to blended learning as the content can be easily comprehended by most students without lecture-style teaching. Instead, students are provided with a range of instructional experiences, which include small group work, computer-based learning, individual work areas, and teacherlead small groups. Students have a choice for most activities, which means all the outcomes will be covered, but the depth and areas of focus will vary from student to student. All activities are self-pacing, and will receive either a formative or summative assessment throughout the unit. As you will see, some activities work well as for both small group work and individual work areas. We use Pearson Saskatchewan Science 9 as a textbook for this unit