The Importance Of Constructivism In Teaching And Teaching Theory

946 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Constructivist views of learning

Constructivism is a learner-centered strategy. The constructivist approach focuses on innovative activities and knowledge acquisition as well as moral values. It adopts a more holistic approach to education to promote sustainability. Constructivism is a model that demonstrates learning as an active process. It involves teaching strategies such as behaviorism and programmed instructions. Teachers help students to inculcate the positive technique, the affection, the attitude and the habit in learning. The complete constructivism teaching theory is comprised of all the innovative ideas, which contribute largely to modern teaching theory. It promotes improvement in the students’ comprehensive quality.
Constructivism postulates that all knowledge is built from the learners’ prior knowledge regardless of how they are taught. Constructivists affirm that a learner is not a ‘blank slate,’ but, acts …show more content…

The main importance of constructivism in teaching and learning science is that, it provides students with a learning environment that stimulates their understanding of science by developing and exchanging ideas through meaningful peer and teacher interactions (Solomon, 1987). Howard Gardner et al (1991) stated that the strategy to promote understanding science is that, students should directly examine their own theories and confront the limitations. Only in this way can meaningful learning and conceptual change occur. For change to happen, students must go through Piaget’s notions of assimilation, disequilibrium and accommodation. This means, students would try to make new information fit current ideas (assimilations). However, when it would simply not work out, disequilibrium would occur. Finally, changes (accommodation) in cognitive structure would follow. Thus, the goal of teaching conceptual change in science is

Show More
Related

  • Debate on Educational Constructivist Approach: Windschitl V.S. Hirsch

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    While reading the Windschitl & Hirsch articles, I felt both informed and interested on the different positions on the main question. The main question asks about if schools should have their own educational constructivist approach. The article written by Windschitl agrees having an educational constructivist approach, while Hirsch on the other hand disagrees. Each other others did a wonderful job on elaborating their positions on the point, and provided excellent examples, and great detail. Each of these articles exhibited both similarities and differences regarding the main question.

    Read More

  • Theories of Teaching and Learning

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    Teaching theories are as much part of the classroom as the student and the teacher. The effect individual theories have on an environment depends how they are incorporated within the classroom in addition to the influence they have had on the curriculum construction. This essay will briefly look at how motivation theory, cognitive and social cognitive theory along with constructivism have impacted on education and the classroom.

    Read More

  • Constructivism

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    Empiricists and rationalists have proposed opposing theories of the acquisition of knowledge, which appear unable to coexist. Each theory holds its own strengths but does not demonstrate a strong argument in itself to the questions, “Is knowledge truly possible?” and “How is true knowledge obtained?”. Immanual Kant successfully merged the two philosophies and provided a convincing argument with his theory of empirical relativism, or what some may call constructivism. His theory bridges the gap between rationalism and empiricism and proves that empiricists and rationalists each present a piece of the full puzzle. In order to truly understand Kant’s epistemology, one must first review and understand both empiricism and rationalism on an impartial basis.

    Read More

  • Behaviorism, Constructivism, and Cognitivism: Multiple Approaches To Learning

    2101 Words  | 5 Pages

    A. Behaviorism, constructivism and cognitivism are relatively common theories used in the classroom as ways to approach student learning. Behaviorism focuses on observable behavior, such as students answering questions correctly, or being able to follow directions to complete a task as instructed. Characteristics of a classroom that uses behaviorism might be memorization of facts, writing vocabulary words, or a token reward system to inspire the desired behavior and decrease undesired behaviors. Constructivism, as indicated by the root word “construct,” focuses on the construction of new ideas, or expanding on what is already known. Students in a classroom using constructivism as a means for learning might seem more actively engaged in the learning process; they often learn something new through applying what they already know about the content area, and exploring new matter to further their understanding. This type of classroom often uses hands on manipulatives to allow students to actually build, create, or experiment with what they are learning. A cognitivism approach to learning might be explained by the minds capacity to process information – such as how a learner might remember something, retrieve information, or store new concepts. Learning through this method often depends on how the student processes what the teacher is presenting. Classrooms using this approach might incorporate learning strategies that help students categorize and sequence information to assist with processing. Like constructivism, it can be an active style of learning.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Special Education

    1332 Words  | 3 Pages

    Freire states (2000), without dialogue there is no commitment, and without communication there can be no true education (p. 92). Constructivist teaching is based on the belief that learning occurs as learners are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information. Learners are the makers of meaning and knowledge. Without that dialogue learning is meaningless you are just filling an empty vessel. True learning is an open dialogue of debating back in forth about the topic and that creates a deeper

    Read More

  • John Dewey's Instructional Constructivism In The Modern Classroom

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    The concept describes that our knowledge is something to be constructed internally rather than reflected from external realities. After the initial proposition of constructivism there came about the idea that “a reasonable conclusion is that at least three levels of constructivist advocacy appear frequently in contemporary educational literature”, according to Null 2004. Those three levels include epistemological constructivism, which focuses on issues like race, gender, and class and how issues like these need to be fixed. Next is instructional constructivism, which focuses on individual learning in the classroom. The last is prescriptive constructivism, which focuses on the relationship between teacher and student and proposes that teachers instruct with their students rather than at their students. No matter what level it is being taught, the basis of constructivism is to move away from the traditional practice of teaching the classroom through lecture primarily, and to adopt teaching the classroom through

    Read More

  • The Piagetian Theory and Early Childhood Education

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brooks, J. G., Brooks, M. G. (1999). In Search of Understanding: The Case of Constructivist Classrooms, with a new introduction by the authors. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10078162&ppg=28

    Read More

  • Comparing the Two Theories of Cognitive Development

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Piaget suggests that cognitive development takes place as a result of experiences which force the child to accommodate new information, creating new schemas and occasionally leading to a qualitatively different kind of thinking- moving from one stage to another, but these changes need to depend on readiness. However, Vygotsky placed more of an emphasis on the importance of social context in transforming elementary into higher mental functions, and the role of the ZPD in understanding how this transformation takes place. Piaget's theory, also known as the 'discovery learning theory', brought up two ways in which schemas became more complex, assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is basically the process of fitting new information and experiences into existing schemas, and accommodation is the process of changing the existing schemas when new information cannot be assimilated.

    Read More

  • My Philosophy Of Reading And Writing Curriculum

    2147 Words  | 5 Pages

    Constructivism theorists believe that learning is an ongoing collective application of knowledge where past knowledge and hands on experience meet. This theory also believes that students are naturally curious. If students are naturally curious, their curio...

    Read More

  • Constructive Learning And John Dewey's Theory Of Learning

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own “rules” and “mental models,” which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences. The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the “right” answers and regurgitate someone else’s meaning. Since education is inherently interdisciplinary, the only valuable way to measure learning is to make the assessment part of the learning process, ensuring it provides students with information on the quality of their learning. Assessment becomes part of the learning process so that students play a larger role in judging their own progress.

    Read More

  • Constructivism

    2610 Words  | 6 Pages

    Constructivism is a defined, when referring to the learner, as a "receptive act that involves construction of new meaning by learners within the context of their current knowledge, previous experience, and social environment" (Bloom; Perlmutter & Burrell, 1999). Also, real life experiences and previous knowledge are the stepping stones to a constructivism, learning atmosphere. (Spigner-Littles & Anderson, 1999). Constructivism involves the learner being responsible for learning the material and, not necessarily, the teacher (Ely; Foley; Freeman & Scheel, 1995). When learning occurs, the goals, values, and beliefs of the individuals need to be linked to the new data. Also, in constructivism, the person, who is taking in the knowledge, can somehow filter, amend, and reformat the information that he or she feels is important to the schema (Spigner-Littles & Anderson, 1999). A constructivist learner uses the creative approach to apply their own meaning to a topic using the social and cognitive circumstances around themselves (Bloom; Perlmutter & Burrell, 1999). A short and sweet summary of constructivism is "how one attains, develops, and uses cognitive processes" (Airasian & Walsh, 1997).

    Read More

  • Constructivism in the Classroom

    1824 Words  | 4 Pages

    Constructivism is a method that says students learn by building their schema by adding to their prior knowledge by the use of scaffolding (Rhinehart Neas). Because the students are basically teaching themselves new information, the teacher is there mainly for support and guidance for the students.

    Read More

  • Constructivist Theory: Teaching Theory

    1783 Words  | 4 Pages

    Among many teaching styles and learning theories, there is one that is becoming more popular, the constructivist theory. The constructivist theory focuses on the way a person learns, a constructivist believes that the person will learn better when he/she is actively engaged. The person acts or views objects and events in their environment, in the process, this person then understands and learns from the object or events(P. Johnson, 2004). When we encounter a certain experience in our life, we think back to other things that have occurred in our life and use that to tackle this experience. In a lot of cases, we are creators of our own knowledge. In a classroom, the constructivist theory encourages more hands-on assignments or real-world situations, such as, experiments in science and math real-world problem solving. A constructivist teacher constantly checks up on the student, asking them to reflect what they are learning from this activity. The teacher should be keeping track on how they approached similar situations and help them build on that. The students can actually learning how to learn in a well-planned classroom. Many people look at this learning style as a spiral, the student is constantly learning from each new experience and their ideas become more complex and develop stronger abilities to integrate this information(P. Johnson, 2004). An example of a constructivist classroom would be, the student is in science class and everyone is asking questions, although the teacher knows the answer, instead of just giving it to them, she attempts to get the students to think through their knowledge and try to come up with a logical answer. A problem with this method of learning is that people believe that it is excusing the role of...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

    1757 Words  | 4 Pages

    One hundred years ago, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a young man developing new insights about learning. He was one of a handful of constructivist-minded writers and educational theorists of the time. Learning theories open educators up to new ideas. They are necessary to expand our knowledge of how learning works. Piaget’s work is a well-tested and educators around the world should be aware of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development in particular because it will improve the quality of their teaching. Once a teacher knows this theory, they can plan lessons appropriate to their students’ cognitive ability and build upon students’ earlier knowledge in a constructivist way.

    Read More

  • Teaching History and Geography in the Constructivist Classroom

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    We must first look at the need for a constructivist approach in a classroom, to do this we think back to our days in primary school and indeed secondary school where textbooks we like bibles. We were told to take out our books, look at the board, and now complete the exercise on page z. This approach in a class is repetitive, the teacher holds authoritarian power and learning is by no means interactive. “In a traditional classroom, an invisible and imposing, at times, impenetrable, barrier between student and teacher exists through power and practice. In a constructivist classroom, by contrast, the teacher and the student share responsibility and decision making and demonstrate mutual respect.” (Wineburg, 2001) This approach focuses on basic skills and strict adherence to the curriculum. Children are being forced to learn through repetit...

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Constructivism In Teaching And Teaching Theory

Open Document