LESSON 11 The Computer as the Teacher’s Tool

BICOLBICOL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRYGUINOBATAN, ALBAY

PREPARED BY: BARBARA P. VILLACERAN

III-Bachelor in Agricultural Technology – Agricultural Technology Education

. . . we shall again look at the computer, but this time from another perspective the computer as the teacher’s handy-

tool. It can in fact support the constructivist and social constructivist paradigms of constructivist learning.

Constructivism was introduced by Piaget (1981) and Bruner (1990). They give stress to knowledge discovery of new meaning/concepts/principles in learning process.

Various strategies have been suggested to foster knowledge discovery.

Making students engaged in gathering unorganized information from which

they can induce ideas and principles

Apply discovered knowledge to new situations, a process for

making their knowledge applicable for real life

situations.

Social constructivism is an effort to show that the construction of knowledge is governed by social, historical and cultural contexts.

In effect, this is to say that the learner who interprets knowledge has a predetermined point of view according to the social perspectives of the community or society he lives in.

The psychologist Vygotsky stressed that learning is affected by social influences. He therefore, suggested, the interactive process in learning.

In addition, Dewey sees language as a medium for social coordination and adaptation. For Dewey, human learning is really human languaging that occurs when students socially share, build and agree upon meanings and knowledge.

Difference between the Two Learning Perspectives

Learning Framework

Constructivism Social Constructivism

Assumption Knowledge is constructed by the individual

Knowledge is constructed within a social context

Definition of Learning Students build their own learning

Students build knowledge influenced by the social context

Learning Strategies Gather unorganized information to create new concept/principle

Exchange and share form ideas, stimulates thinking

General Orientation Personal discovery of knowledge

Students discuss and discover meanings

The Computer’s Capabilities

• Provide access to information • Foster creative social knowledge-building • Enhance the communication of the

achieved project package.

Without the computer, today’s learners may still be assuming the tedious tasks of low level information gathering, building and new knowledge packaging. But this is not so, since the modern computer can help teacher-and-students to focus more on high level cognitive tasks.

Based on the two learning theories, the teacher can employ the computer as a/an:

• An information tool• A communication tool• A constructive tool• As co-constructive tool• A situating tool

Informative ToolThe computer can provide vast amounts of

information in various forms, such as texts, graphics sounds, and video. Even multimedia encyclopedia are today available on the internet.

Communication Tool

Constructive ToolThe computer itself can be used for manipulating

information, visualizing one’s understanding , and building new knowledge. The Microsoft Word computer progress itself is a desktop publishing software that allows users to organize and present their ideas in attractive formats.

Co-constructive ToolsThis can be used by the students to work cooperatively

and construct a shared understanding of new knowledge.

One way of co-construction is the use of the electronic whiteboard where students may post notices to a shared document or whiteboard. Students may also co-edit the same document from their homes.

Situating ToolBy means of virtual

reality extension systems, the computer can create 3-D images on display to give the user the feeling that are situated in a virtual environment.

A school-to-school or classroom-to-classroom environment is possible

whereby the user can choose to walk around the campus, talk with other

users who are logged to the same site.

THANK YOU !!!