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The Constructivist Approach to teaching and learning

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Title: The Constructivist Approach to teaching and learning


1
The Constructivist Approach to teaching and
learning
  • Cat Allen
  • Instructional Technologies in Education

2
What is Constructivism?
  • A view of learning based on the belief that
    knowledge isn't a thing that can simply be given
    by the teacher at the front of the room to
    students in their desks.
  • Students learn by fitting new information
    together with what they already know
  • Learners are the builders and creators of meaning
    and knowledge
  • Knowledge is constructed by learners through an
    active, mental process of development

3
Our many thanks go out toJean Piaget, 1896-1980
4
  • Piaget believed learning occurs by an active
    construction of meaning, rather than by receiving
    it passively.
  • He states," when we, as learners, encounter an
    experience or situation that conflicts with our
    current way of thinking, a state of imbalance is
    created
  • We must alter our thinking to restore equilibrium
    or balance

5
  • To do this, we must associate it with what we
    already know
  • The developing child must build cognitive
    structures through the use of ..
  • Mental maps
  • Concept maps

6
Concept maps help us begin with information we
are familiar with and branch out to build new
ideas.
7
To further Piagets thinking....
  • We must alter our thinking to restore balance or
    equilibrium
  • To do this, we must associate it with what we
    already know

8
Piagets 4 Stages of Development are
  • Sensorimotor stage (birth-2)
  • Preoperational (2-7)
  • Concrete Operations (7-11)
  • Formal Operations (11-15)
  • During all development stages, the child
    experiences his/her environment using whatever
    mental maps he or she has constructed so far. If
    the experience is a repeated one it fits easily.
    For example
  • http//www.coe.uga.edu/epltt/Piaget.htm
  • Please visit this site for two examples relating
    to Piagets stages of development (scroll down!)

9
Lets move on, shall we? Can any one tell me one
reason why constructivism is important?
  • Fosters critical thinking
  • Creates active and motivated learners
  • Students are able to learn through constructing
    their own understandings
  • This approach frees teachers to make decisions
    which enhance and enrich students development.

10
How does the constructivist teacher make this
style work?
  • He/she is flexible
  • She/he creatively incorporates ongoing
    experiences with real-life situations
  • Students work in small groups
  • Students work individually
  • Interactive activities become main focus (if
    materials can be related to an interest of the
    child, they are more apt to remember them)

11
What does student-centered mean?
  • The students are the center of attention, not the
    teacher
  • Children are placed in groups, they work together
    to find meaning
  • Each student takes on a different objective or
    part of the assignment or project
  • They become experts on their subject

12
  • Students teach one another to become experts on
    their piece of the puzzle
  • Together, as a whole, the group becomes experts
    from one another
  • The teacher facilitator, guide on the side NOT
    mentor in the middle

13
What about the constructivist classroom?"Student
s should be presented with real life problems and
then helped to discover information required to
solve them" John Dewey
  • As we now know, the environment is a
    student-centered one
  • Students are empowered by a teacher who operates
    as a guide on the side vs. a mentor in the
    center or sage on the stage
  • Classrooms are structured so that learners are
    immersed in experiences with in which they may
    engage in meaningful

14
  • Inquiry
  • Action
  • Imagination
  • Invention
  • Interaction
  • Hypothesizing
  • Personal reflection

15
Important roles of the Teacher
  • Watching
  • Listening
  • Asking questions to learn about students
  • Having the ability to observe and listen to ones
    students and their experiences in the classroom
    contributes to his other ability to use a
    constructivist approach
  • A constructivist approach contributes to ones
    ability to observe and listen in the classroom.

16
In conclusion
  • I believe in teaching through constructivism
    because
  • Allows for students to become engaged with one
    another
  • Cuts out the talking head
  • Children learn through own experiences based on
    their lives
  • Remember information down the road of life
    instead of memorization

17
Resources
  • Piaget, J. (1977). The development of thought
    Equilibration of cognitive structures. (A. Rosin,
    Trans). New York The Viking Press.
  • Rosenblatt, L. (1978). The reader, the text, the
    poem The transactional theory of the literary
    work. Carbondale, !! Southern Illinois
    University Press.
  • Smith, K. (1993) Becoming the guide on the
    side. Educational Leadership, 51 (2), 35-37.
  • Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., Hyde, A. (1993).
    Best practice New standards for teaching and
    learning in Americas schools. Portsmouth, NH
    Heinemann.
  • Twomey Fosnot, C. (1989). Enquiring teachers,
    enquiring learners A constructivist approach for
    teaching. New York Teachers College Press.
  • McNeil, L. (1986). Contradictions of control
    school structure and school knowledge. New York
    Routledge.
  • Mezirow, J. and Associates. (1990). How critical
    reflection triggers transformative learning. In
    J. Mezirow and Associates (1990), Fostering
    critical reflection in adulthood A guide to
    transformative and emancipatory learning. San
    Francisco Jossey-Bass Publishers
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