The constructivist learning approach is suggested as a means for facilitating students’ learning of science and increasing their participation in this learning. Several studies have shown the contribution of this approach to the different aspects of students’ learning of science, though little research has examined the contribution of this approach to the democratic environment of the science classroom. The present study attempted to do so. 34 grade 5 science students studied the energy unit of the science book using the V-shape strategy, and 38 grade 5 science students studied the same unit without using the strategy. The research results show that students who used the V-shape strategy had significantly higher scores in democratic practices than students who did not use the strategy. Moreover, the democratic practices in the science classroom were not influenced significantly by the independent variables (science ability, general ability, and preferred subject). The results of the current study also show that, in the experimental group, only the correlation between involvement and freedom was significant, while in the control group, all of the correlations among involvement, freedom, and equality were significant.

Title

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education

Publisher

Springer

Publisher Country

Switzerland

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

1.104

Publication Type

Prtinted only

Volume

16

Year

2018

Pages

221-236