What is constructivism? – 3rd try
It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing things and reflecting on them. In a classroom this translates as encouraging students to use active techniques, such as experiments and real world problem solving to create more knowledge and reflect on their learning and talk about how it is changing. The objective is to help the students learn how to learn.
Teachers help students restate their questions in useful ways. Teachers help the students construct knowledge rather than repeat back a series of facts.
The constructivist teacher provides tools, such as problem –solving and inquiry based learning,
How does this theory differ from traditional ideas about teaching and learning?
- Pursuit of student questions and interests is valued.
- Learning is interactive building on what the student already knows.
- Teachers have a dialog with students, helping all to reconstruct their knowledge.
- Teacher’s role is interactive, rooted in negotiation.
- Assessment includes student works, observations, and points of view as well as formal tests.
- Knowledge is seen as dynamic, ever changing with our experiences.
- Students work primarily in groups.
What does constructivism have to do with my classroom?
v It prompts students to formulate their own questions.
v It allows for multiple interpretations and means of expression of learning.
v It encourages group work and the use of peers as resources.
Prior knowledge of the student is the raw material for the new knowledge that they will create.
It is the student who creates new understanding. The teacher’s role is to coach, moderate, and suggest, but allows the student to experiment, ask questions, and try things that don’t work. Student also helps to set his own goals and means of assessment.
Ø Students reflect on their own learning Teacher either consults with student privately or listens to his participation in a group. Teacher provides activities that allows the student to reflect upon his own prior knowledge and experiences. Talking about what was learned and how it was learned becomes really important.
Ø Teacher and student together assess: 1) What new Knowledge the student has created, 2) How the student learns best, and 3) the learning environment and the teacher’s role in it.
Ø The Constructivist classroom relies heavily on collaboration among students. They learn about learning , not only from themselves, but also from their peers. They can pick up strategies and methods from one another.
Ø Students use inquiry based methods to ask questions, investigate a topic, use a variety of resources to find solutions and answers. As students explore the topic, they draw conclusions. Exploration of question leads to more questions
Ø Students have ideas which they may later see were invalid. incorrect, or insufficient to explain new experiences. These ideas were temporary steps in the integration of knowledge. Student compares the new knowledge with that he already has.
Expert Interview
The most important thing I gathered from this interview is that after teachers have experienced constructivism they have no desire to go back to the way things used to be.
The History of Constructivism and How It Has Changed Over Time
Piaget believed that humans learn through the construction of one logical structure after another. Initially the modes of the thinking of children differed from that of adults. Constructivist thinking focuses on successive knowledge building.
Dewey called for education to be grounded in real experience.
Lev Vygotsky theorized that children solve problems beyond their actual developmental level, but within their level of potential development. Under adult guidance and in collaboration with more capable peers.
Jerome Bruner initiated curriculum change based o the idea that learning is an active social process in which children build new concepts, based on current knowledge.
Seymour Papert has been a leading advocate for computers in education. He created the Logo systems.
John Branford a leading researcher and author on constructivism
Ernest von Glasersfeld holds that since all experience is subjective, the interpretation of that experience is subjective also.
Eleanor Duckworth studied and collaborated with John Dewey for over 20 years.
George Forman is a proponent of Jean Piaget’s theories.
Roger Schenk is a leading researcher in the field of artificial intelligence and interactive multimedia programs
Jacqueline Grennon Brooks is the author of In Search For Understanding: The Case For Constructivist Classrooms.
Martin G. Brooke coauthored the above mentioned book with Jacqueline Brooks.
What are some critical perspectives?
- Elitist
- Imposes too much conformity “group think”
- Lack of evidence of progress, because not so tied to formal testing.
Constructivists point out that in measures of higher order thinking skills, children who are taught by constructivist methods out perform their peers.
What do you think?
I prefer the constructivist approach.
Benefits of constructivism
· Makes active learners.
· Concentrates on thinking and understanding, rather than rote memorization.
· It is transferable children create organizing principles that they take with them when they move up in grade.
· Gives the students ownership of what they learn.
· Learning activities are grounded in an authentic real world context.
· Emphasizes collaboration and the exchange of ideas.
