In support of the constructivist theory of education for future athletic trainers

Educational philosophies differ from person to person. From behaviorist to constructivist and everything in between, the one thing they have in common is that they attempt to explain how people learn. This paper will explain why I tend to lean toward the constructivist theory of education and defend this theory using a variety of current literature. It is important to note that the theories that are talked about as educational theories are often looked at as both theories of teaching and learning; however most of these theories are not theories of teaching but rather learning (Baviskar, Hartle, Whitney, 2009). This may be especially true for constructivism where there can be a common misunderstanding of what constructivism actually is and how to apply it to learning.

Before this paper looks at why I lean toward a constructivist theory it is important that one understand what constructivism is. There are many differing views on what the precise definition of constructivism, however, it is generally accepted that constructivism is a theory that elucidates human learning as a dynamic attempt to create meaning in the world around us (Fritscher, 2008). That is to say learners construct meaning/knowledge as part of a process of making sense of their experience and the experiences of others (Rollocf, 2010). In order for the learners to be able to do this we as educators must follow the four basic criterions of constructivist teaching as set forth by Baviskar, Hartle, and Whitney (2009). Those criterions are: eliciting prior knowledge, creating cognitive dissonance, application of the knowledge with feedback, and reflection on learning. The goals of constructivist learning using the four criterion are to develop critical thinki...

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...h their students. This is not to say that I do not use other teaching and learning theories/strategies, but that the most commonly used theory is that of constructivist theory.

Works Cited

Baviskar, S. N., Hartle, R., & Whitney, T. (2009). Essential Criteria to Characterize Constructivist Teaching: Derived from a review of the literature and applied to five constructivist-teaching method articles. International Journal Of Science Education, 31(4), 541-550. doi:10.1080/09500690701731121

Fritscher, L. (2008) Constructivism: Defined retrieved on 1/20/2012 from http://phobias.about.com/od/glossary/g/constructivdef.htm

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J (2011) Teaching and Learning With Technology 4th Ed. Pearson Education, Boston, MA.

ROLLOFF, M. (2010). A CONSTRUCTIVIST MODEL for Teaching Evidence-Based Practice. Nursing Education Perspectives, 31(5), 290-293.