Examples Of Constructivism In Early Childhood Classroom

A constructivist Early Childhood classroom is one that focused on the role of each child. The curriculum and lessons are guided by what the teacher knows about his/her students’ needs and interests. If the teacher has introduced something and it is not going as planned, he/she can reshape it based on what the children are interested in about the subject. It can also allow for the study of certain things to go much deeper than planned. As long as the students are interested and still wanting to learn about the subject things can keep being added to extend their knowledge. It allows the children to learn from the things that they already know, but reshaping or adding it to the knowledge that they have previously known. The children are allowed

Constructivist theory- this theory considers how children learn from experience in life, it believes that children will ‘construct’ their ideas about the world by what they experience in life. I have seen this put into practice by going on two trips, one with year twos to the remembrance memorials to see for themselves how people remember and appreciate the people who fought in the war and secondly one with year 1’s to a museum to look at toys children used to have in the Victorian days. This is an example of constructivist theory because the children are learning by experiencing it themselves by going on the trip.

The understanding of how children comprehend the world around them has been a highly researched part of cognitive development in Psychology. Jean Piaget was one of the first researchers to develop a theory suggesting that children understand the world around them by actively seeking information from their environment, and continuously expanding their knowledge by organizing, adapting and assimilating this information Berlin, (1992). Piaget’s theory known as constructivism theory, has undergone a high level of scrutiny, centring

DeVries et al. (2002) Developing constructivist early childhood curriculum: practical principles and activities. Teachers College Press: New YorkGagne, Robert. (1968). Contributions of Learning to Human Development. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (75): 3.

On Thursday September 28, 2016 I was given the opportunity to observe Ms. A preschool class at kiddie academy in Windham, New Hampshire for two hours from 9 to 11am. the age level is 2 years old and the oldest one had just turned 3. There was a total of 10 children in the class and 2 teachers in the classroom. This center serves all types of families. There were no children with documented special needs in the classroom. Moreover, the leader teacher of the classroom has an associate in early childhood education, 20 years of experience and 5 years working at this center, the other teacher has a certificate in early childhood education 16 years of experience and 11 years working at this center.

As I attempt to explain and understand how the constructivist theory affected my transition from a beginning classroom teacher to an instructional school leader, I must admit that I didn’t really understand the process until it became a reality for me. I woke up one day and realized that things that were very difficult for me suddenly became second nature to me. Upon further reflection, I now realize that this was the culmination of past experiences, new knowledge, investigation, and synthesis producing genuine learning. Constructivism allowed me to mature into an instructional leader by taking all that I had experienced, combined with new skills learned, and create a foundation of knowledge to be applied to my job. Prior to working on this assignment, I had not given much thought to why I know what I know. Upon thinking and reflecting on this assignment, I now have a better understanding of how learners create knowledge and how the constructivist theory applies to education. True learning requires an individual to not only receive information, but to use it in a real world situation in order to facilitate the reflection of the true meaning of the experience. This reflection of the experience is the point at which true learning takes place.

Constructivism is reflecting on the experiences we have had in order to create our own understanding of the environment me live in. For instance, lets say I had and old sewing machine that I used all the time but now broke. I visit a sewing machine shop in order to buy a new one. The only machines available are newer models of the machine I owned, with different buttons and features. My previous experience with my machine will guide me into using the new machine. By simply learning a few extra steps, I would now be able to use the new model thanks to by previous experience, this is considered constructivism.

According to Anthony & Walshaw, (2009) within a constructivist view, it is a teacher’s role to facilitate the learning of a child by providing a resource rich environment from which they guide a students learning. A student within a constructivist-learning environment must become engaged in the learning process by becoming a researcher, identifying a problem, collecting and analysing data and formulating a conclusion. This process of engagement provides a student with endless opportunity to develop his or her own understanding and knowledge. An educators ability to understand this learning theory as a process of construction and development provides a conceptual framework from which to build a teaching practice.

Constructivism is the learning theory that focuses on observation by acquiring data and thereafter reexamining, altering, and updating information to be useful in the present time. Humans process experiences, knowledge, and conception of life based on their impressions of their past. As individuals experience an unfamiliar event, they will attempt to integrate it with their knowledge and past, therefore replacing old outdated or incorrect data with new more pertinent information (Kerka, 1997). This learning theory states that learning is an ongoing process and not about merely comprehending available data without questioning, processing, and updating previously learned information (Allen, 2005).

I am going to discuss and focus on Lee Vygotsky and his theory of Constructivism. One of Lee Vygotsky main theories was in fact constructivism; it is interesting to read about Lee Vygotsky view on constructivism as it is about how people learn and is based on a scientific study. One of the main meanings behind constructivism is “Constructivism is people who construct their own understanding and

Since I do well with reading and writing as a learning tool, this theory would best describe my learning style. The way I process and store the information, using logic and reasoning, and visually processing the material (Sincero, S.). At the same time, I also have traits compared to the Constructivism theory; I have a questioning demeanor about myself and I wonder how things work, I use my past experiences to learn from, and I always look at things in my own perspective

On November 18 at 10:30 AM I had agreed with Alicia’s teacher to let me in the classroom for just about 20 minutes so I could observe her for my early childhood education class. I told her that I wouldn’t be using the real child’s name and that I was just going to observe her movements and what she did while in school. As soon as I came in the classroom I saw the classroom full of colors like pink, green, red, orange, yellow and much more. The classroom was also full of bulletin boards about the season and about the latest holiday witch in that time was Thanksgiving. and pictures of the children and their families that were places in front of their cubbies. I also saw different types of books like "The very hungry caterpillar" and "The five

After 30 plus years working in the Early Childhood Educating field, I have a wide variety of experience and education that I can share with my students. I started my journey in Early Childhood Education as a ROP student and then worked my way to becoming a private preschool teacher and site director of an after school program. I eventually helped open and start my own state preschool as a teacher and director. I am currently learning the management side of Early Childhood Education as I am a Regional Manager of the Head Start Programs.

Constructivism is the theory that humans construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. This idea that people learn from experience and not just from hearing lectures was revolutionary and gave birth to the experimental learning approach that is more powerful than lectures and worksheets. By directing their own learning processes, students understand concepts better. In essence constructivism is the theory of how we learn.

Constructivism is connected to the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget believed that cognitive development occurred in four stages that have distinct developmental characteristics.  He theorised that all information is organised into ‘schemas’, and this refers to the manner in which a child organisesand stores information and knowledge received. As new information is received, it is either incorporated into existing schemas (assimilation) or new schemas (accommodation) are created (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).  Vygotsky’s theories compliment those of Piaget and place a greater importance on social interaction as he considered cognitive development predominately was achievedthrough social interaction.  Vygotsky believed that learning could be accelerated with the assistance of a more advanced peer or teacher.  This concept is referred to as the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and works in conjunction with the theory of ‘scaffolding’, where a teacher provides support to student and as proficiency increases the scaffolding is decreased (Marsh, 2008). Evidence of scaffolding is seen throughout the Maths video as Ms Poole provides an outline of the lesson and the goals to allow students to establish a focus.