Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Constructivism
Constructivism is a great teaching philosophy. It takes the classroom and transitions it from a teacher centered to student centered. The student needs to become a thinker and problem solver as they build their understanding of information. The development of this skill is the most important task I want to teach my students. Although their are certain items in my core area I want to them to learn and understand. Given the choice would you want your students to be great thinkers and problem solvers but learn no content in your class or learn all the content with no problem solving skills, I would choose the first EVERY time. Things that constructivism teaches are very important because they give students 21st century skills.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Craig,
ReplyDeleteConstructivism is a great way to promote student centered learning rather than maintaining student dependence upon the teacher. Orey (2001) reiterates this point by stating that constructivism promotes "knowledge that is built by the learner, not supplied by the teacher." As a result, the students are creating their own knowledge of the concept as it is "uniquely constructed within our own minds and our own experiences" (Laureate Education Inc., 2008). Furthermore, it builds upon skills such as thinking critically and problem solving to promote an understanding of the topic at hand. Have you already experienced the use of constructivism in your classroom? Do you think the constructivism approach is better suited for older students that maintain more prior knowledge or for students of any age?
Melissa Smith
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program seven. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Craig,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very important point about students becoming thinkers and problem solvers. As teachers we are pushed to cover content, content, content. By incorporating a constructivism into our lessons we can cover this content but also develop our students problem solving skills. Developing these skills is a crucial component of our students' furtures. Also, by incorporating this teaching philosophy I believe students will view learning as something they want to do rather than something they are told to do. This shift in mind set will be very beneficial for some students.
Eileen
Craig,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Eileen, and Melissa that creative problem solvers and creative thinkers is an invaluable benefit of contructionist theory. You posed the question, however, about would you rather create problem solvers/creative thinkers who lack adequate knowledge of the content or students who learn the content but don't develop problem solving skills. Personally, I see how constructionism can serve both the need for problem solving strategies and learning the content material due to engaging lessons. Granted these lessons may take more time because students are actively creating a product of some sort, but I feel like that gives them a deeper understanding (if used correctly and thoughtfully) of the concepts. Do you find that constructionism is lacking in developing a thorough understanding of the content or was that just a hypothetical question?
Craig,
ReplyDeleteI like your question about what would you rather have, good problem solvers and thinkers, or great content knowledge and no problem solving skills, etc..
I think if you can create great thinkers and problem solvers, they will automatically have the content area knowledge, as a result of their great thinking and problem solving skills.
Tit for tat, they won't be able to help themselves or keep themselves from learning.
When I taught special ed in a residential treatment facility, I made a special effort to teach the kids where to find the information they needed for class lessons, tests and quizzes. I even allwed them to have open books and notes for tests and quizzes in order to teach them research skills and where to look for the information they needed.
Since they had constructed their own study notes, they knew the general area they needed to look in to find the answer to a particular question and were not just shooting in the dark looking in random books for the answer. They had to research their own notes they had previously organized in order to find the answers.
I felt it was a better skill to teach them than cramming facts and figures in their heads that they didn't care about.
By using this method, they actually remembered more content material "by accident" through looking it up rather than by memorization.
take care
Rob Zingg
Hello and thanks to all the responded to my blog. I posted my question more hypothetically. I agree with Rob there that content mastery will happen as a result of higher level questions. A person cannot defend the American Revolution without stating facts and details that caused it. It is an interesting question to pose though.
ReplyDeleteCraig, your point on constructivisim and how it takes away from just the learning taking place in a teacher centered environment is important. I also feel that students should ask themselves or be given at times harder thinking questions because it raises the standard of learning the content. The skills are more important to learn rather then being drilled over and over again. nice job.
ReplyDelete