Constructivism

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Constructivism

• Mr. Dominador D. Mangao
• Specialist (Science)
• Training Programme Division
• SEAMEO RECSAM

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What Influences Science Teaching Today?

• Constructivist approach to science teaching and
  learning
• inquiry-based instruction in science
• interweaving of assessment and instruction
  (multiple assessment)

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• A focus on cooperative learning and collaborative
  projects
• The belief that diverse learners and those with
  special needs can be full participants in an
  effective science classroom
• Integration of technology
• Standards movement in education

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• National Science Education Standards , 1996
• Benchmarks for Science Literacy ( AAAS,1993)
• National Educational Technology
• Standards(International Society for Technology in
  Education, 2000)
• Standards for Technological Literacy Content for
  the Study of Technology (International
  Technology Education Association, 2000)
•  

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• The Constructivist Manifesto
• If I had to reduce all of educational
  psychology to one principle, I would say this
  The most important single factor influencing
  learning is what the learner already knows.
  Ascertain this and teach . . . accordingly.
• Ausubel, David (1968). Educational Psychology- A
  Cognitive View.

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Definition

• "a theory about knowledge and learning.
• knowledge is "temporary, developmental,
  nonobjective, internally constructed, and
  socially and culturally mediated.
  ( Fosnot,1996)

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• learners actively construct their own knowledge
  by anchoring new information to preexisting
  knowledge
• Learning does not occur in isolation, either.
  Learners interact with the knowledge, the
  learning environment, and with other learners
• knowledge is viewed "as something created,
  discovered, and experienced

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• "knowledge as an active construction built up by
  the individual acting within a social context
  that shapes and constrains that knowledge but
  does not determine it in an absolute sense
  (Applebee and Purves)
• Constructivist teaching empowers the learner to
  construct and interpret his/her understanding of
  knowledge and reality.

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• Constructivism is anchored on cognitive
  psychology but from a practical perspective has
  roots in the "progressive" model of John Dewey.

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• learners are active participants in knowledge
  acquisition, and engage in restructuring,
  manipulating, reinventing, and experimenting with
  knowledge to make it meaningful, organized and
  permanent.
• Learning is an internal process and influenced by
  the learner's personality, prior knowledge and
  learning goals(

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• Piaget is probably the most well-known
  contemporary constructivist.
• the idea that students, as well as all humans,
  actively construct their understandings of the
  world and these constructions are significantly
  influenced by prior knowledge, beliefs,
  attitudes, and experiences.

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History

• Jean Piaget and John Dewey developed theories of
  childhood development and education, what we now
  call Progressive Education, that led to the
  evolution of constructivism.

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• Piaget ( cognitive development)concluded that
  knowledge cannot be transmitted intact from one
  person to another people must construct their
  own knowledge and their own understandings.
  Learning does not occur by transmitting
  information from the teacher or the textbook (or
  the video or the demonstration) to the childs
  brain.

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• each child constructs his or her own meaning by
  combining prior information with new information
  such that the new knowledge provides personal
  meaning to the child ( Cobern, 1993).

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• Piaget believed that humans learn through the
  construction of one logical structure (schema)
  after another.
• concluded that the logic of children and their
  modes of thinking are initially entirely
  different from those of adults.
• The implications of this theory and how he
  applied them have shaped the foundation for
  constructivist education.

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• added new perspectives to constructivist learning
  theory and practice
• Lev Vygotsky,
• Von Glasersfeld,
• Jerome Bruner, and
• David Ausubel.

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• Vygotsky introduced the social aspect of learning
  into constructivism ( social constructivism).
• Defined the zone of proximal learning, according
  to which students solve problems beyond their
  actual developmental level ( but within their
  level of potential development) under adult
  guidance or in collaboration with more capable
  peers.

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• Bruner initiated curriculum change based on the
  notion that learning is an active, social
  process in which student construct new ideas or
  concepts based on their current knowledge (
  Discovery learning).

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• See comparison of theories and perspectives of
  learning

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Constructivist View of Learning

• Learning outcomes depend not only on the learning
  environment but also on what the learner already
  knows, that is, pupils conceptions, purposes and
  motivations influence the way they interact with
  learning materials in various ways.

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• Learning involves constructing meanings of what
  people hear or see by generating links between
  their existing knowledge and new phenomena
  attended to.
• New experiences are interpreted by generating
  expectations based on present knowledge and these
  are actively tested out.
• Everyone has sets of beliefs about how things
  happen and expectations which enable us to
  predict future events.

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• construction of meaning is a continuous and
  active process.
• This is to say that in learning situation,
  learners are actively hypothesizing, checking,
  and possibly changing their ideas as they
  interact with phenomena and with other people.
• In some cases, pupils do adapt and evolve their
  thinking to accommodate new experiences

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• Although pupils may successfully construct an
  intended meaning, they may be reluctant to accept
  or believe it.
• Learning involves not only constructing the
  intended ideas but also accepting them.
• Difficulties in learning science may arise at
  either the construction or acceptance stage.

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• Learners are responsible for their own learning
  in that they have to direct their attention to
  the learning task, draw on their present
  knowledge to construct meaning and evaluate that
  meaning.
• Unfortunately, many learning situations do not
  encourage pupils to make scientific sense of what
  they are expecting but rather to pursue the
  right answer to the teachers questions,
  textbook problems, or laboratory exercises.

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• By presenting science as a set of right
  answers, pupils cannot make new experiences
  meaningful to them and readily substitute
  external authority and rote learning for internal
  authority and understanding.
•  

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• These science educators agree with Piaget that
  knowledge is constructed and theorize that
  students are builders of knowledge structures.
  They have developed a number of alternative
  models that have direct implication for teaching
  science to secondary school students.

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Common Characteristics

• Importance of content Knowledge
• Integration of skills and content
• Intrinsic nature of motivation
• Role of learning groups

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• See comparison of traditional and constructivist
  classrooms

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Characteristics of Constructivist Teaching

• Encourage and accept student autonomy and
  initiative
• Use raw data and primary information sources with
  manipulative, interactive, and physical materials
• Use cognitive terminology such as classify,
  analyze, predict, and create
• Allow student responses to drive lessons, shift
  instructional strategies, and alter content

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• Inquire about students understandings of
  concepts before sharing their own understanding
  about the concepts
• Encourage students to engage in dialogue, both
  with the teacher and with one another
• Encourage student inquiry by asking thoughtful,
  open-ended questions and encouraging students to
  ask questions of each other
• Seek elaboration of students initial responses

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• Engage students in experiences that might
  engender contradictions to their initial
  hypotheses and then encourage discussion
• Allow wait time after posing a question
• Provide time for students to construct
  relationships and create metaphors
• Nurture students natural curiosity through
  frequent use of the learning cycle mode,
•  

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How constructivism impacts on learning

• Curriculum
• Constructivism calls for the elimination of a
  standardized curriculum.
• Instead, it promotes using curricula customized
  to the students' prior knowledge.
• Also, it emphasizes hands-on problem solving.

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Instruction

• educators focus on making connections between
  facts and fostering new understanding in
  students. Instructors tailor their teaching
  strategies to student responses and encourage
  students to analyze, interpret, and predict
  information. Teachers also rely heavily on
  open-ended questions and promote extensive
  dialogue among students.

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Assessment

• Constructivism calls for the elimination of
  grades and standardized testing. Instead,
  assessment becomes part of the learning process
  so that students play a larger role in judging
  their own progress.

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Implications for teaching

• First, teaching cannot be viewed as the
  transmission of knowledge from enlightened to
  unenlightened constructivist teachers do not
  take the role of the "sage on the stage."
• Rather, teachers act as "guides on the side" who
  provide students with opportunities to test the
  adequacy of their current understandings.

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• Second, if learning is based on prior knowledge,
  then teachers must note that knowledge and
  provide learning environments that exploit
  inconsistencies between learners' current
  understandings and the new experiences before
  them.

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• This challenges teachers, for they cannot assume
  that all children understand something in the
  same way. Further, children may need different
  experiences to advance to different levels of
  understanding.

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• Third, if students must apply their current
  understandings in new situations in order to
  build new knowledge, then teachers must engage
  students in learning, bringing students' current
  understandings to the forefront.
• Teachers can ensure that learning experiences
  incorporate problems that are important to
  students, not those that are primarily important
  to teachers and the educational system.

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• Teachers can also encourage group interaction,
  where the interplay among participants helps
  individual students become explicit about their
  own understanding by comparing it to that of
  their peers.

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• Fourth, if new knowledge is actively built, then
  time is needed to build it.
• Ample time facilitates student reflection about
  new experiences, how those experiences line up
  against current understandings, and how a
  different understanding might provide students
  with an improved (not "correct") view of the
  world.

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Examples of Constructivist Teaching Models

• CLIS Model Childrens Learning in Science Model
• proposed by the CLIS group in United Kingdom.
• has five phases, namely, orientation, elicitation
  of ideas, restructuring of ideas, application of
  ideas, and review change in ideas

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• Five Es proposed by the Biological Sciences
  Curriculum Study (BSCS) team.
• It has five phases namely, Engage, Explore,
  Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate

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• Generative Learning Model the Learning in
  science Project (LISP) at the University of
  Waikato, New Zealand, used this model proposed b
  y the team members, Osborne and Freyberg in 1985.
  
• This model is centrally concerned with clarifying
  the students existing views and consolidating
  the scientific views with the background
  experience and values of the students. There are
  four phases, namely, preliminary, focus,
  challenge, and application.

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• Interactive Learning Model developed by the
  Making Sense of the World project by Biddulp
  and Osborne in 1984. This model requires the
  teacher to take into account the students prior
  knowledge and their questions.

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• . From the questions that arise, students are to
  plan and carry out own investigations, verify
  scientific concepts and critically evaluate
  findings.
• There are 7 phases in this model, namely
  preparation, before views, exploratory
  activities, students questions, investigations,
  after views, and reflection.
•  

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Benefits of Constructivism

• Children learn more, and enjoy more when they are
  actively involved, rather than passive listeners.
• Education works best when it concentrates on
  thinking and understanding, rather than on rote
  memorization. Constructivism concentrates on
  learning how to think and understand.

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• Constructivist learning is transferable. In
  constructivist classroom, students create
  organizing principles that they can take with
  them to other learning settings.
• Constructivism gives students ownership of what
  they learn, since learning is based on students
  questions and explorations, and often the
  students have a hand in designing the assessments
  as well.

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• Constructivist assessment engages the students
  initiatives and personal investments in their
  journals, research reports, physical models, and
  artistic representations.
• Engaging the creative instincts develops
  students abilities to express knowledge through
  a variety of ways. The students are also more
  likely to retain and transfer the new knowledge t
  real life.

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• By grounding learning activities in an authentic,
  real-world-context, constructivism stimulates and
  engages students. Students in constructivist
  classrooms learn to question things and to apply
  their natural curiosity to the world.

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• Constructivism promotes social and communication
  skills by creating a classroom environment that
  emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas.
  Students must learn how to articulate their ideas
  clearly as well as to collaborate on tasks
  effectively by sharing in group projects.

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• Students must therefore exchange ideas and so
  must learn to negotiate with others and to
  evaluate their contributions in a socially
  acceptable manner. This is essential to success
  in the real world, since they will always be
  exposed to a variety of experiences in which they
  will have to cooperate and navigate among the
  ideas of others.
•