Constructivism

By: Monique B.

What is Constructivism?

Who is involved in the theory?

How can the theory be seen in the classroom?

How to use Constructivism in the classroom

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A type of learning theory where the learner actively construct creates their own subjective representations of objective reality.

This theory focuses on learning through experience. Constructivism began in the time of Progressive Education. Constructivist educators will assess their students' learning and

plan new learning experiences.

What?

Each individual is an active creator of their own knowledge. It’s often misconstrued as a learning theory that compels

students to "reinvent the wheel." Students attempt to understand how the wheel functions by

applying their existing knowledge and real-world experience.

What?

Jean Piaget- was a Swiss professor of psychology and sociology

Jerome Bruner-published documents about that examined theories of cognitive development for curriculum innovation.

Lev Vygotsky- was a scholar that proposed a theory of cognitive development that focused in the underlying process rather than the stage of development

John Dewey- was an American philosopher and educator

All of these individuals were influential in the evolution of this learning theory .

Who?

Jean Piaget had a big influence on constructivism Made observations that children construct new knowledge as

they move through different cognitive stages. There are four cognitive stages:- Sensorimotor: learn through sensory and motor activities- Peroperational : begin to use symbols ,images, and pretend play - Concrete operational: begin to think logically, and learn facts- Formal operational: abstract thinking and reasoning develops

Who?

Teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding by questioning themselves and their strategies.

Teachers help students to construct knowledge rather than to reproduce a series of facts.

Students become "expert learners," because their knowledge of tools continue to broaden tool, they learn to learn.

Guided by the teacher, students construct their knowledge actively rather than just mechanically ingesting knowledge from the teacher or the textbook.

How?

Students will continuously reflect on their experiences. They begin to develop increasingly strong abilities to integrate

new information. One of the teacher's main roles becomes to encourage this

learning and reflection process. Problem-solving and inquiry-based learning activities are seen

in the construcitvism classroom . This allows students to formulate and test their ideas in a

collaborative learning environment. The student becomes an active participant in the learning

process versus a passive recipient of information.

How?

In my classroom I would apply this learning theory by having activities that promotes both group collaboration and individual creativity.

Each activity will be followed by a reflection statement to see what the student gained from the information.

Problem-solving tasks would be utilized to really get the “wheels” turning in the child’s mind.

In the Classroom

The children would also participate in more hands-on tasks versus always having just traditional lectures.

I think also having very sensory components to be used can assist with the child gathering the information.

I would use teaching ideas such as whole language, fuzzy math, and invented spelling.

I would make sure when implementing this learning theory to have the environment structured because having activities that emphasis on students' self-esteem versus self-discipline can lead to disciplinary concerns if not implemented properly

In the classroom

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/lp_elem1.html

http://www.illinoisloop.org/whatswrong.html http://

faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/piaget.jpg (Image)

Clip art images within powerpoint

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