Constructivism as perspective in education is based on experimental learning through real life experience to construct and conditionalize knowledge.

•Learning is a process of constructing knowledge according to constructivist paradigm.

•The child interacts with his environment and construct knowledge as a natural process.

CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH

•Construction of knowledge is not limited to the classroom alone

•Through interaction, investigation, reaction, interpretation etc. the child learns from the world outside and gradually integrates himself with the society

•The 3 main principles behind Constructivist approach are⦂

•Learning is construction of knowledge•Learning involves problem solving •Learning is the product of natural process

•Here acquisition of a piece of knowledge and not by receiving from somebody else

•Active involvement of students are needed

•The word ‘construct’ here carries the meaning of ‘re-creation’

•Jean Piaget, Jerome S Bruner, Vygotsky,Noam Chomsky, Donaldson and Skemp are some of the most reputed expounders of constructivist psychology

•Education is learner-centred

•The teacher is only a guide and felicitator

•The students construct knowledge; it is not delivered to the students by spoon feeding or as finished products

•Active involvement of the pupil helps him to ‘construct’ knowledge and add it to his prior knowledge and experience

•In the Constructivist Approach ,knowledge is

.Child-centred

.Activity based

.Process-based

Special Features of Constructivist APPROACH

•Prediction,creation and analysis of knowledge

•The right of students for choice of objective

•Promotion of divergent thinking and reflective thinking

•Freedom of children to self-regulation

•Use the faculty of the learners to compare their previous knowledge to a new item of knowledge

•Developing the ability for free expression

•The teacher’s status of a co-learner and a scaffolder

•The role of student in constructing knowledge and involving in problem solving

•Open-ended learning strategy and learning in real life situation

•Continuous and comprehensive evaluation(CCE)

•More stress on the process of learning than on what is learnt

Fundementals of Social and Cognitive Constructivsm

•Cognitive Constructivism propounded by Jean Piaget and Social Constructivism suggested by Vygotsky greatly influenced Constructivist Approach

COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTIVISM•According to Piaget,knowledge is ‘built’ through assimilation and accomodation•He identifies a kind of ‘cognitive Scaffold’ lebelled ‘schema’ a frame work for holdind and organizing knowledge

●When a new item of knowledge enters the brain,there occurs a change in the already existing frame or schema.The process is assimilation

•As a result,there occurs a modification in the knowledge structure and the assimilated item is now accomodated in the schema

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

●According to Vygotsky,the Social Constructivist,knowledge is not permanent but is relative●It is relative with respect to the knower

●Creation of knowledge happens in an isolated environment or social environment

●The student community takes part in the instructinal task,a series of process like sharing,problem-solving,enquiry etc.

●Meaningful learning takes place through collaboration●In the acquisition of foreign language like English,the constuctivist principles have much relevence

●Acquisition of language is possible only when the learner actively invoved in the learning process

●School learning should occur in a meaningful context and not to seperated from learning and knowledge children develop in the “real world”●Out-of-school expereriences should be related to the child’s school experience

CONSTRUCTIVIST CLASSROOM LEARNING●Provide multiple representation of

reality

●Represent the natural complexity of the real world

●Focus on knowledge construction; not reproduction

●Present contextualized task

●Provide real-world, case-based learning environments rather than pre-determined instructional sequence

●Enable context and content dependent knowledge construction

ADVANTAGES

●Children learn more and enjoy learning more when they are actively involved, rather than passive listeners

●Constructivism concentrates on learning how to think and understand

●Students must learn how to articulate their ideas clearly as well as collaborate tasks

●Students must learn how to articulate their ideas clearly as well as to collaborate on tasks effectively by sharing in group objects

●This method of teaching is effective for students who learn better in a hands-on environment and helps student to better relate the information learned in the class room to their lives

LIMITATION OF CONSTRUCTIVISM

●The training is extensive and often requires costly long-term professional development

●With an average number of students in one classroom, teachers are unable to customize the curriculum to each students, as their prior knowledge will very

●The Constructivist curriculum eliminates standardized teaching and grades

●This eliminates grade-centered goal and rewards, as well as the comparisons of students state wide or district-specific progress