the philosophical discussions on the constructivist school of thoughts

discussions on the principles of constructivists thoughts

1. Constructivism in
the classroom

2. What is Constructivism ?
Constructivism is not a new concept, it has been around since the
turn of the century and was supportedby:
•John Dewey, who was an American psychologist, philosopher,
educator, social critic and political activist.
•Jean Piaget, whobasedhis view of psychological development
of children such that achild contructs understanding through
many channels: such as reading, listening, exploring and
experiencing his or her environment.
•Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist and philosopherand
isassociated with the social constructivist theory. Hebelieved
that the influences of cultural and social contexts played an
important part in learning and supports a discovery model of
learning.

3. Constructivism is:
•Constructivism is child-centered, rather than
curriculum based,
•Constructivism focuses on knowledge construction,
not knowledge reproduction,
•It is a belief that one constructs knowledge from one's
experiences,
•Everyone'sview of the external world differs from
others because oftheir unique set of experiences,
•The ideas and interests of children drive the learning
process,
•Teachers are flexible-they are the facilitator,

4. Constructivism is con't :
•Studentsconstruct new understandings using what
theyalready know, and prior knowledge influences
what new or modified knowledge they will construct
from new learning experiences,
•Learning is active rather than passive,
•Children may need different experiences to advance to
different levels of understanding.
•"a focus on student-centered learning may well be the
most important contribution of constructivism." (1)

5. Jean Piaget -The learner is advanced through
three mechanisms
According to Jean Piagetthe three mechanisms used are:
1. Assimilation -fitting a new experience into an exisiting
mental structure(schema).
2. Accomodation-revising an exisitingschema because of
new experience.
3. Equilibrium -seeking cognitive stability through
assimilation and accomodation. (p. 95)

6. Lev Vygotsky -associated with the
social constructivist theory
1. Making meaning-the community places a central role, and
the people around the student greatly affect the way he or she
sees the world.
2. Tools for cognitive development-the type and quality of
these tools (culture, language, important adults to the student)
determine the pattern and rate of development.
3. The Zone of Proximal Development-problem solving
skills of tasks can be placed into three categories: Those
performed independentlyby the learner. Those that cannot
beperformed even with help. Those that fall between the two
extremes, the tasks that can be performed with help from
others.

8. traditional vs constructivist classroom
Traditional Classroom
•Student primarily work alone
•Curriculum is presented part to whole,
with emphasis on basic skills
•Strict adherence to a fixed curriculum
•Curricular activities rely heavily on
textbooks of data and manipulative
materials
•Students are viewed as "blank slates"
•Teachers generally behave in a didactic
manner,
•Teachers seek the correct answers to
validate student lessons.
•Assessment of student learning is
viewed as separate from teaching and
occurs almost entirely through testing.
Constructivist Classroom
•Students primarily work in groups
•Curriculum is presented whole to part with
emphasis on the big concept
•Pursuit of student questions is highly
valued.
•Students are viewed as thinkers with
emerging theories about the world
•Teachers generally behave as facilitators
•Teachers seek the student's point of view
in order to understand student learning for
use later on
•Assessment of student learning is
interwoven with teaching and occurs
through teacher observation of students at
work and through exhibitions and
protfolios.

9. Principles of Constructivism
10 basic guiding principles of constructivist thinking that educators
must keep in mind:
1.It takes time to learn
2.Learning is an active process in which the student constructs
meaning out of
3.People learn to learn
4.Learning involves language
5.Learning is a social activity
6.Learning is contextual
7.The act of constructing meaning is mental
8.Every one needs knowledge to learn
9.Learning is not the passive acceptance of knowledge it takes work
10. Motivation is a major aspect of learning

10. Constructivism and Technology
•instruction goes from whole class to groups
•facilitating rather than lecturing
•stronger students may work independantly while weaker
orstruggling students get the extra help that they need
•students are engaged more and learn to work with others
•studentsare more cooperative and less competative
With the every changing classroom and technology it only
makes sense to use some of the constructivisms' ideas to help
students learn.

11. Pros & Cons of Constructivism
Pros
•students often like when
they are part of the
decision making process
•a higher level of thinking
occures
•students like hands-on
activities
•students feel a sense of
ownership when hand-on
learning occures rather
then just being told
something
Cons
•belief that learning is
based on the students
ability to discover new
knowledge
•teachers may not take
responsibility for poor
learning
•may lead students totake
a majority rules attitude
rather then an individual
approach to decision
making

12. Constructivism Graphic Organizer

13. 5 E Model English Lesson
•Indicator: Introduce yourself to a classmate and learn new
information about them.
•Objective: The student will write a paragraph about
themselves to share with a classmate. After the students
read their paragraphs to a partner, the student will ask their
partner questions to get to know them even better. Then
they will present their findings to the class by telling them
about their partner.

14. 5 E Model English Lesson
•Outcomes: The students will be able to use their new
knowledge of interviewing to share information about
themselves to a classmate and then present to the class.
They will have learned about each classmate.
•Grade: 4th
•Materials: Paper, pencils, list of questions about
themselves.

15. Engagement
•Have the students line up in order of birthdays (from
youngest to oldest). The students will pair up in two’s based
upon who they are next to.
•The students will write a paragraph about themselves, using
the list of questions as a guide to tell them what to include.
The students will write their paragraphs and then come up
with questions to ask their partner about other aspects of
their lives.
Teachers must engage students in their lessons
in order for them to learn. Engage students by:
guiding whole group discussions, asking
students to explain what they learned, working
together in small groups to complete projects or
tasks.

16. Teachers must engage
students in their lessons in
order for them to learn.
Engage students by: guiding
whole group discussions,
asking students to explain
what they learned, working
together in small groups to
complete projects or tasks.

17. Exploration
•The students will read their paragraphs to their partners and
ask questions that they would like to know.
•The students will take notes on their classmates responses

18. Students inquire, work together, form
hypotheses, learn about new ideas and
concepts on their own before coming
together as a whole class. Students
develop an idea of what they may think
an object or idea is, then explore it
further to see if their idea was
accurate. Students use tools such as
textbooks, the internet, scientific
instruments, and their creative minds
to explore new concepts.

19. Explanation
•When the students are done sharing then they will share
their findings with the class by introducing their partner to
them. The students will tell the class what they found out
about them.
•Each group will have to participate but the teacher will call
on volunteers first if any exist.

20. The student will define and
explain the current concept
using their own words.The
student will accomplish this
using informational readings,
group discussions, and teacher
interaction.Learners will
support each other by sharing
their ideas, observations,
questions, and hypotheses.

21. Extention/Elaboration
•After each group introduces each other, the class will ask
additional questions that they come up with about their
classmates.
Students will expand their learning
on the concepts by making
connections to related concepts
and applying their understanding
to the world around them.This
will help students make
connections that will lead them to
more inquiry which will lead to new

22. Evaluation
•The teacher will ask each student to say one thing that they
learned about at least one student in the class.
Constructivism encourages teachers
to assess their students learning on
an ongoing basis.In traditional
classrooms, assessment would be
paper tests taken by the students
after the content was taught and in
which they received a grade.In a
constructivist classroom the teacher
assesses the students work and

23. Explore
Evaluate
Teacher engages students by providing knowledge expansion tools the
students use, collaboratively and cooperatively through inquiry, exploration,
teamwork, whole group discussions, and evaluation.
Advantages:
Students LISTENto their peers
Students COLLABORATE with group members
Students EXPLOREindependently
Teacher EVALUATESwhat students learned.
CollaborateListen

24. Constructivist classroom should be characterized by the
following:
•the learners are actively involved
•the environment is democratic
•the activities are interactive and student-
centered
•the teacher facilitates a process of
learning in which students are
encouraged to be responsible and
autonomous

25. Strategies and Activities

26. Role-playing
By simply letting the students take on the role of
various book characters, famous historical and
current affairs figures, body organs, plant parts,
sports materials, the students shall be better able
to deeply comprehend the depth and importance
of these personalities and entities.

27. In Social Studies, the teacher can
choose a student to internalize the role
of a popular dictator while the rest of
the class proceed to fire away
questions for the person.
In Science, a group of students
may be assigned to be the different
organs of the digestive system and
asked to explain how each of them
works individually and together with
the other organs in the system.

28. In Mathematics,a student may
temporarily become a triangle
and explain to the class what
geometric figures she/he is
made of and how his/her
perimeter or area is computed.
For the story grammar lesson in
English, for instance, a group of
students may be assigned to be
expert geographers (setting),
psychologists (characters),
counselors (theme), and reporters
(plot) to retell a story.
Other subject area teachers can easily incorporate these
role-playing activities for the deepening of students’
comprehension of important concepts.

29. Hands-on, creative activities
One way to initiate these is for the
teacher to pose an open-ended
question on how to solve
aparticular problem. Here, it is
important that the teacher’s
modelling and scaffolding will not
dictate a rigid structure that
thestudents might follow.
Present a wide range of
options for the students to
explore without directly
stating what those options
are.The key is to make the
discussions refreshingly
engaging and at the same
time within the range of
their schemata.

30. After theexchange of ideas, let
the students work on the
presentation of solutions by way
of various creative activities,
such as choralrecitation,
commercials, flyers, multimedia
presentations, conferences or
request for community
involvement from the rest of
thestudent body.

31. Real-life simulations
The constructivist teacher believes that students
learn best by experience. By simulating real-
lifesituations and immersing the students in these
setups, the teacher successfully gives a very practical
and useful venue for thestudents to do their critical
thinking and exploring.

32. How is this done?
In Math, for instance, an activity on counting money may
bea day in the grocery store with only a limited amount of
money on hand. The students may be asked to buy the
needed itemson their list by carefully noting down each
item’s price and budgeting their money to be able to afford
all the necessary goods ontheir list.
In Science, a trip outside the school grounds to the nearest
safe highway may be a good observation place forstudents
learning about the nature and description of the by-
products of combustion.

33. The key to a successful constructivist
classroom is an interactive relationship
between the learner, the task, and the
teacher who will largely act as a facilitator
of learning without depriving the students
of experiencing learning and discovering
knowledge on their own. Use strategies for
constructivist teaching for effective
experiential learning.

34. More Advantages and Disadvantages of
Constructivism:
Advantages:
•Each person in the world builds their own knowledge.
•Focuses on student-centered learning
•Teacher guides students in building their own understanding and
knowledge.
•Students actively engaged in their learning process
Disadvantages:
•Lack of teacher preparation for constructivist classrooms
•Difficult to break the cycle of those who have been taught in a
classroom where they were expected to solely absorb information

35. Create a classroom activity (teacher/learner
interaction) following the five E model of
Constructivism
a.Engagement
b.Exploration
c.Explanation
d.Extension/elaboration
e.Evaluation