...Introduction As educators we are in charge of teaching hundreds of students and ensuring that they are grasping the actual contents of the lessons we are teaching. What we need to ask ourselves is, “What defines that our students are learning?” The constructivism theory of learning changes the way we answer this question. No longer is getting the “right” answer the sole determining factor of whether a student has learned a particular lesson. In this theory learners create and drive their own learning. The role of the teacher is vastly changed as the teacher becomes an instigator of learning instead of the leader. Background The constructivist view on learning has greatly changed the way theorist think about a person’s learning process. For hundreds of years the thought of how one “processes” learning was the focus on all research regarding how a person functions during learning. The constructivist view changes all previous thoughts on learning while maintaining some compatibility with other thoughts. It is a theory with more than one perspective which gives it multiple view points while maintaining the main focus on the learner. There are many theorists who have contributed towards the constructivist theory. Two of the primary theorists, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky had different contributions to this theory. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development provides some basis for understanding the stages a learner developmentally goes through. His theory essentially...
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...Applefield, J. M., Huber, R., & Moallem, M. (2001). Constructivism in theory and practice: Toward a better understanding. The High School Journal, 84(2), 35. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/220222981?accountid=12085. Over the years of teaching there have been many different theories on how to best educate children. The theory of constructivism is not a relatively new theory but it is starting to become very influential in the field of education. In the theory of constructivism there are many different ideas and no real set belief but the general idea of constructivism is that children learn from the interactions and experiences that they have every day in the classroom. They construct learning by experiencing learning in a hands-on setting. It is the belief that students learn through experience instead of a teacher transmitting the information to them. To have a classroom that is based on a constructivist theory of learning takes effort on the part of the teacher and might be different than other classrooms that we have seen. In a constructivist classroom the emphasis is on the students and on their learning experiences. One of the strengths of this article is that it explains in great detail what a constructivist classroom looks like and how we as teachers can contribute to creating this kind of classroom for our students. It explains how Ms. Blake has created a constructivist classroom. Her classroom is centered...
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...Constructivism as an Educational theory in Mathematics Name: Institution: Instructor: Date: Introduction Learning is an inevitable process for human beings and even animals. A young one is born with little or no knowledge of the surrounding, both within and without. In this case, things start acquiring a given shape through the learning process. Learning becomes the preoccupation of human beings as their growth and development takes course. In the former times, learning was accomplished in an informal setting. As development and modernization took shape, dedication was formalized and confined to the classroom. Classroom teaching methods has been revolutionized with development of various theories and philosophies for the same. Among them is constructivism theory. This theory has been applied in many subjects including mathematics. This paper explores constructivism as an educational theory in mathematics. Constructivism as an Educational theory Constructivism theory is coined around a philosophy of self experience of the learner. This theory is coined on the basis of how a student connects information or instructions give in class. Jean Piaget, who came up with this theory suggest that learning is accomplished through a connection of the experience of the learner with new information. In most cases, the new information or ideas leant in the classroom or anywhere is not really taken in as intended. Instead, a student processes information given based...
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...Postmodern Approach to Social Constructivism Laura Romine Liberty University Abstract As the world looks at the reality of communal exchange, thumbing back to historical debates of empirical and rational schools of thought, delineations from dualism to social interchange and collaboration refine hypothesis’ of undisputable truth. Reminiscent of the psychoanalytic movement with greats such as Freud, Jung and Adler, therapy, more of an art than science, and current day philosophies drive which models influence today’s truth. Reality is fashioned by language, how we feel, act and think, revealing “stories” we tell the self as contextual meanings. These beliefs now evolve one’s creation and truth. The therapist, joining in recognition of new perspectives, empowers and helps the client see that forward progress is strength within oneself. In a social constructivist point of view, the therapist detaches from the expert status of defining the problem. From family therapy and the multicultural lens, therapists now challenge cultural factors that, in turn, shape the client’s perceptions in the format of brief therapies. Keywords: brief therapies, collaborative, family therapy, social constructionism Postmodern Approach to Social Constructivism In the 21st century a paradigm shift motivated the field of psychology to unlock a fresh world view revealing the objet d'art of collective exchange. Referring to the modernistic creation of self, it is said that the anthropological...
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...Constructivism (learning theory) Constructivism is a theory to explain how knowledge is constructed in the human being when information comes into contact with existing knowledge that had been developed by experiences. It has its roots in cognitive psychology and biology and an approach to education that lays emphasis on the ways knowledge is created in order to adapt to the world. Constructs are the different types of filters we choose to place over our realities to change our reality from chaos to order. Von Glasersfeld describes constructivism as “a theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology, and cybernetics”.[1] Constructivism has implications to the theory of instruction. Discovery learning, hands-on, experiential, collaborate, project-based, tasked-based are a number of application that base teaching and learning. Constructivists • John Dewey (1859–1952) • Maria Montessori (1870–1952) • Władysław Strzemiński (1893–1952) • Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) • Jean Piaget (1896–1980) • George Kelly (1905–1967) • Heinz von Foerster (1911–2002) • Ernst von Glasersfeld (1917–2010) • Paul Watzlawick (1921–2007) • Edgar Morin (1921–) • Humberto Maturana (1928–) • Laszlo Garai (1935–) • David A. Kolb (1939–) Historical and Theoretical Roots According to Kliebard,[2] John Dewey created an active intellectual learning environment in his laboratory school during the early 20th century. Neuroscience now supports this form of active learning as the way people naturally...
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...Ever since the earliest hominid knew something he wanted to share, the human race has been in an eternal struggle to find slightly more effective ways of conveying knowledge and skills. Thousands of years of evolution, Ancient Greece society notwithstanding, culminated in the invention of the ruler, which was not only a tool to measure the dimension of various objects, but it also doubled as a form of negative reinforcement to incentivize poorly performing and troublesome students. In the western world, specifically the United States, people began to turn away from physically abusing students and began to look for more effective ways of educating the nation’s larval citizenry. It would be unfair to speak of education theories without mentioning Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, as they together were of the first to put forth an effort towards understanding, among many things, how people think and why. Roughly 2000 years later, there were a growing number of educated individuals beginning to take second look at everything we thought we knew about being human. Among these people, there was Ivan Pavlov, who began ringing a bell, and not only did Clarence get his wings, but what was learned through the well-known story of Pavlov and his dogs also served as the impetus for John Watson and B. F. Skinner and their ground-breaking notion of Behaviorism. Behaviorism, simplified, is the theory that a person is the product of their environment, and to change a person’s behavior,...
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...goal of the reader is deconstruction, given that neomodern cultural theory is valid. Lacan promotes the use of predialectic appropriation to challenge capitalism. In a sense, the premise of neomodern cultural theory states that class has significance. “Society is impossible,” says Derrida. The characteristic theme of Porter’s[1] essay on Debordist situation is the role of the observer as writer. However, if predialectic appropriation holds, the works of Burroughs are postmodern. The main theme of the works of Burroughs is the futility, and eventually the paradigm, of capitalist sexual identity. The subject is contextualised into a neomodern cultural theory that includes culture as a totality. Thus, Lacan uses the term ‘constructivism’ to denote the role of the observer as artist. The characteristic theme of Cameron’s[2] analysis of neomodern cultural theory is not, in fact, theory, but posttheory. It could be said that the opening/closing distinction depicted in Eco’s The Name of the Rose is also evident in The Limits of Interpretation (Advances in Semiotics). The subject is interpolated into a pretextual constructivist theory that includes consciousness as a reality. Thus, Sontag’s model of predialectic appropriation holds that the significance of the observer is social comment. Lacan uses the term ‘neomodern cultural theory’ to denote the role of the reader as poet. But Baudrillard suggests the use of Batailleist `powerful communication’ to modify...
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...Fundamentally,constructivism says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. It is a learning theory that emphazises problem solving and understanding using athentic tasks, experiences, settings and assesments. The first article I read abot described how constructivism is a process both for the instructor and the student. The goals for the instructor are to adapt the curriculum to address the students suppositions. Help negotiate goals and objectives with learners and pose problems of emerging relevance to students. Emphasize hands on,real world experiences and also seek and value students point of view. In return the student will develop his/her own goals and assessments and create new understandings to control learning based on reflections. The student will collaborate among fellow students, learn in a social experience and take ownership and voice of the learning process. Constructivism can help students pursue personal interests and purposes. They build on his/her prior knowledge and experience and develop life long learning skills. The second article I read was written by Prof. George E. Hein for the CECA conference. I the article professor Hein gave his thoughts about the constructivism learning theory and how it applied to museums and the need of people. "He defines constructivism as the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves---each learner individually (and...
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...------------------------------------------------- Constructivism Main article: Constructivism (learning theory) Constructivism is a revolution in educational psychology. Built on the work of Piaget and Bruner, constructivism emphasizes the importance of active involvement of learners in constructing knowledge for themselves...Constructivism emphasizes top-down processing: begin with complex problems and teach basic skills while solving these problems [13]. Constructivism explains why students do not learn deeply by listening to a teacher, or reading from a textbook. Learning sciences research is revealing the deeper underlying basis of how knowledge construction works. To design effective environments, one needs a very good understanding of what children know when they come to the classroom. This requires sophisticated research into children's cognitive development, and the learning sciences draws heavily on psychological studies of cognitive development (e.g., Siegler, 1998). The learning theories of John Dewey, Marie Montessori, and David Kolb serve as the foundation of constructivist learning theory.[14]Constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts based upon current and past knowledge or experience. In other words, "learning involves constructing one's own knowledge from one's own experiences." Constructivist learning, therefore, is a very personal endeavor, whereby internalized concepts, rules, and general...
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...NARRATIVE THERAPY: 1. Focus of narrative Therapy: Narrative conversations are interactive and always in collaboration with the people consulting the therapist. Narrative therapy seeks to be a respectful, non-blaming approach to counselling and community work, which centres people as the experts in their own lives. It views problems as separate from people and assumes people have many skills, competencies, beliefs, values, commitments and abilities that will assist them to change their relationship with problems in their lives. Curiosity and a willingness to ask questions to which we genuinely don't know the answers are important principles of this work. There are many possible directions that any conversation can take (there is no single correct direction). The person consulting the therapist plays a significant part in determining the directions that are taken. It seems appropriate to begin any exploration of narrative therapy with a consideration of what is meant by the `narratives' or `stories' of our lives. 2. THE ROLE OF STORIES Narrative therapy is sometimes known as involving’re-authoring' or’re-storying' conversations. Stories are central to an understanding. Stories consist of: • events • linked in sequence • across time • according to a plot 3. LISTENING WITH AN OPEN MIND Social Constructionist Theories place an emphasis on listening to clients without judgment or blame, affirming and valuing them. Totalizing language is avoided. NP focuses on the capacity...
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...Constructivism & PBL CONSTRUCTIVISM AS A CULTURAL SYSTEM, CURRICULUM INTEGRATION AND PBL 1 Constructivism as a cultural system in a n integrated curriculum program using Problem Based Learning Hortensia Jiménez Díaz Córdoba, Ver. Presented as a poster in the PBL2004 International Conference Cancún, México June 13-19, 2004 Constructivism & PBL Abstract The purpose of this paper is to identify if teachers and students from an undergraduate program designed under a constructivist model, using curriculum integration and PBL, perceive the created environment as a cultural system, according to Windschitl (1999). The research work was completed with open questionnaires and direct observations that were used to collect information about the process that is going on in this program. The data obtained was analyzed using the seven essential values of PBL proposed by Keng-Neo, Yih Chyn and Heng Chye (2001) that were related to Windschitl’s elements of a cultural system. The findings show that even when the program has most of the elements proposed by the authors mentioned above, the teachers do not have a deep 2 knowledge about constructivism and its philosophical principles, and they consider PBL just as an alternative way of teaching. A deeper analysis is required to establish which of the factors involved in creating a cultural system are present in this kind of programs and how do these factors contribute to that. Constructivism & PBL 3 Constructivism as a cultural...
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...According to the article “Perspectives on Learning, Thinking, and Activity,” situative and cognitive perspectives have both made a significant impact on educational thinking and towards the improvement of education. The purpose of doing research relative to learning processes is to “inform those who are responsible for forming policy-so that our children will not be the victims of well-intentioned but ill informed educational practices.” (Anderson, Greeno, Reder, Simon 2000) Situational learning is an instructional approach that follows the work of Vygotsky where students are inclined to learn actively by participating in the learning experience. “Like Piaget, Vygotsky argued that cognitive development results from a complex interaction between heredity and environment.” (Bohlin, Durwin, Reese-Weber 2012) Vygotsky’s “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD) theory states that the purpose of education is to give children experiences that are within their zones of proximal development thereby promoting and encouraging their individual learning. ZPD is the difference between “children’s actual developmental level and their level of potential development.” (Bohlin, Durwin, Reese-Weber 2012) Skills and understandings contained within a child’s ZPD are the ones that have not yet emerged, but could emerge if the child engages in interactions with knowledgeable others (i.e. peers and adults) or in other supportive contexts (i.e. make believe play). Children shift from performing...
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...COGNITIVE LEARNING 1. Approaches to learning: Literature review 1.2.1. Constructivist perspectives of learning Constructivism as a learning theory, simply speaking, is to make learning meaningful. The core constructivist perspectives are as follows: (a) learning is a self-directed process—knowledge is constructed rather than directly received; (b) instructor as facilitator; (c) learning as a socio-cultural process (Tobin and Tippins 1993). It has long been argued that a constructivist approach is essential for the development of skills and abilities, as discussed in section 1.1. Constructivism is a big concept and a variety of its implementations will be further discussed in section 2. 2. Reading for Learning Cognitive approaches to children's literature How does reading fiction affect young people? How can they transfer fictional experience into real life? Why do they care about fictional characters? How does fiction enhance young people's sense of self-hood? Supported by cognitive psychology and brain research, this ground-breaking book is the first study of young readers' cognitive and emotional engagement with fiction. It explores how fiction stimulates perception, attention, imagination and other cognitive activity, and opens radically new ways of thinking about literature for young readers. Examining a wide range of texts for a young audience, from picturebooks to young adult novels, the combination of cognitive criticism and children’s literature theory also offers...
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...Jones, K., Jones, J. L., & Vermette, P. J. (2010). THE CONSTRUCTIVIST MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM. Mathematics Teaching, (219), 33-35. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/879423475?accountid=12085 The learning theory I chose to examine is constructivism. The article I selected to review shows the effectiveness of constructivist principles within the classroom. The article starts with a review of the theories of constructivism which include active, reflective, continuous learning which requires social interaction. The author introduces us to Ms. Parker, a 7th grade math teacher who uses these principles in her lesson on surface area. After a warm greeting, she begins with a review of the objectives which include constructing 3-D cubes. Following the review, Ms. Parker shows a variety of boxes such as moving, gift and tissue, and encourages her students to come up with things these boxes have in common. After a couple suggestions, one student gives her the answer she is looking for. This results in a group activity to determine why manufacturers chose a cubic box for their products. This activity is followed by another. This time students are given ten cubic nets and are instructed to construct them into cubes. The goal is to find the perimeter and area of the cubes they construct. They work in groups and share everything from materials, ideas, and questions. Finally, Ms. Parker asks her students to complete reflection prompts and submit them before they...
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...was completed, but it was painted in Germany in 1923. The key materials used by Kandinsky to create his various compositions were ink, oil paints, pencil and watercolours, and “Composition 8” incorporates these mediums. It is one of the works of a series of ‘Compositions’. This work is less chaotic, and presents an overall calm image to the viewer. The focus of “Composition 8” lies on the layout and overall presentation. It was painted while Kandinsky was teaching at the Bauhaus in Germany, and is representative of the Constructivism and Supremism that he had seen in Russia. When Kandinsky returned to Moscow after the outbreak of World War I, his expressive abstract style underwent changes that mirrored the utopian artistic experiments of the Russian avant-garde. The emphasis on geometric forms, in an attempt to establish a universal aesthetic language, inspired Kandinsky and he adopted some aspects of the geometrizing trends of Suprematism and Constructivism, such as overlapping flat planes and clearly delineated shapes. Kandinsky’s work synthesized Russian avant-garde art with a lyrical abstraction that includes dynamic compositional elements, resembling mountains, sun, and atmosphere that still refer to the landscape. However due to an artistic conflict with the majority of his Russian, rational, systemizing colleagues, he returned to Germany in 1921. This conflict led him to return to Germany. In 1922...
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