Constructivism
Constructivism
Constructivism is a theory pioneered by Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner, which takes the ideas from Cognitivism that the mind is more than just a 'black box' responding to stimuli, but focuses on the very active processes involved in learning. This model based by Bruner and Piaget, says that learning is a process.
The constructivist (or cognitive-developmental) stream "is based on the idea that the dialectic or interactionist process of development and learning through the student's active construction should be facilitated and promoted by adults" (DeVries et al., 2002)
The learner has to seek out the knowledge or solve the problem on his/her own, rather than given the knowledge or instructions for the problem (Modritscher 2006). Learners construct new ideas, structures, models and concepts and connect them to their prior knowledge and mental models. Actual experiences are important for the learning process. Not only the content is important but also context is essential for meaningful learning. These instructional experiences must be structured so that learners can easily adapt the information.
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Suggestions for developing a project with the Constructivist Learning Theory (Brooks, J. and Brooks, M. 1993):
- Encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.
- Try to use raw data and primary sources, in addition to manipulative, interactive, and physical materials.
- When assigning tasks to the students, use cognitive terminology such as "classify," "analyze," "predict," and "create."
- Build off and use student responses when making "on-the-spot" decisions about teacher behaviours, instructional strategies, activities, and content to be taught.
- Search out students' understanding and prior experiences about a concept before teaching it to them.
- Encourage communication between the teacher and the students and also between the students.
- Encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, open-ended questions, and encourage them to ask questions to each other.
- Ask follow up questions and seek elaboration after a student's initial response.
- Put students in situations that might challenge their previous conceptions and that will create contradictions that will encourage discussion.
- Make sure to wait long enough after posing a question so that the students have time to think about their answers and be able to respond thoughtfully.
- Provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new.