Teaching Phylosophies and Learning Theories: Constructivism

Constructivism is defined by ( (Marsh, 2007) as a theory of how the learner constructs knowledge from experience, which is unique to each individual. The theories of constructivism require qualitative change evidence within conceptual content(Carey, Zaitchik, & Bascandziev, 2015). Also, there’s a difference between cognitive constructivism and social constructivism. Cognitive Constructivism is when individuals construct ideas based off of personal process, whereas social constructivism believes that ideas are constructed through student and teacher interaction(Powell & Kalina, 2009) Many people give credit to Lev Vygotsky for his constructivist theory but Jean Piaget is the patriarch of the theory.

The constructivism learning theory benefits teachers and students alike in several ways. One benefits is that students are given the opportunity to be involved in the learning process therefore find learning enjoyable and interesting rather than sitting, listening, and perhaps avoid learning. The same concept applies to employee training. When a trainee participates in the learning process he or she not only becomes eager and interested in the

Sharing opinions and thoughts lead to interesting arguments and allow the class to be more interactive. So why not allow them to use technology in every aspect of today’s modern education. Davidson suggests that education needs to implement crowd sourcing as a learning method; diversity is a very particular characteristic of our society and teachers should take advantage of those different ways of thinking to allow students join forces to find solutions on different problems, share knowledge and explore new ways to research things; parting from the premise that it doesn’t matter how brilliant a person could be, collective group is always smarter than one person separately. Teachers should encourage the use of technology always when in the classroom. If kids are so into their electronic devices why not teach through it by creating clever ways to learn such as phone apps. Therefore, take the negative aspect away and transform them into a resourceful teaching tool that would allow the students to be more interested and engaged in their

Even though technology does not fully resolve the problem with education, it leads to a change and a greater emphasis on collaborative learning and thinking at new levels, previously unseen in the educational system. Davidson details an experiment she initiated to understand how the new generation learns with technology. Her study focused on “crowdsourcing [which] means inviting a group to collaborate on a solution to a problem,” in this case the group being the students from Duke University (53). Davidson’s study lead to an immense amount of collaboration between the students and it could all happen in real time. For example,

Coming from our most primal instincts, the creation of community and relation with others is vital to survival, but it also allocate the connection of thoughts and ideas, that can be passed from generations and can create a concise form of knowledge.

Constructivism and explicit teaching styles almost appear to be opposites of one another, especially when used in the contexts of the classroom. The more I read about these two styles the more I thought that if a teacher could use both styles in a harmonious balance the students would have the greatest benefit. Not many students want to sit and listen to the droning lecture of a teacher. Memorizing facts, reading chapter after chapter with no connection to how it will be used outside of school. This old fashion way of teaching typically does not assist students in retaining information. Nor does this help with motivating students to continue reading. I also believe

Constructivist teaching. Muijs and Reynolds (2005) interpreted that the principles of constructivist teaching consider all learners construct knowledge for themselves, rather than absorbing knowledge directly from the teacher. This means that every pupil will learn something slightly differently from a particular lesson given. The assumption that pupils are active knowledge constructers has several consequences. For examples, the learners need to be active in order to construct knowledge or to learn effectively, teaching is about helping children construct their own meaning rather than training them to get the right answer without the actual understanding of the concept, and pupils learn best when new lessons are clearly related to what they already know,

Technology has brought huge influences on everyone’s lives, and one of the influences is reflecting on education-collective learning. The Duke University brought iPod as an academic device and educational experiment to all the first-year class students. The iPod inverts the traditional role of technology, which has many new functions. Students can not only listen to music, but also use the iPod as an academic device to share knowledge with others. This concept can be seen in Project Classroom Makeover, by Cathy Davidson. In Project Classroom Makeover, Davidson introduces the use of iPod as an educational experiment, which brings out the idea of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a group of people will share their ideas and solve the problem, which is one way of collective learning. In the Duke University, students will collaborate and share creative ideas together. Collective learning has played a positive role in education by regaining students’ interest of studying, improving student’s collaborate thinking, and increasing the likelihood of students to success in the future.

The advancement in technology is becoming a great benefit in the classroom. More students are learning to use their creative side, which is encouraging individual learning and growth. Through technology, students find it is easier for them to work together with others. The group members can join together over the internet and they don’t have to be in the same room. As there continues to be new improvements in the various types of technology, it is helping the student prepare for the real world.

Constructivism is a coherent theory of learning that emerged as a prevailing paradigm in the last part of the twentieth century. Constructivism is a theory which brings cogitation to pedagogy (Bruner, 1966). Constructivism capitalizes on the ways in which human beings create their own personal construct of reality by understanding and experiencing the world. The main underlying assumption of constructivism is that individuals are actively involved right from the birth in constructing personal meaning.

This essay will compare and contrast three key theories of learning; Behaviourism, Cognitive Learning Theory and Constructivism.

Constructivism in the classroom usually means students are engaged in activities like experiments, or real-world problem solving to increase knowledge, followed by a reflection of how their understanding of the concept has changed (Brooks, Ed.D, n.d.). Cognitivism methods of instruction are commonly integrated with the levels found in Bloom’s Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Bloom, 1956). The instructor must understand the prerequisite knowledge possessed by the student, and the student is encouraged to use appropriate strategies to help make the learning meaningful.

Lev Vygotsky is one of the earliest proponents of a constructivist learning theory. Although he only lived through the early 1930s, his work was largely unknown in the West until the 1960s (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2012). His significant contributions to constructivist learning theory include three important distinctions. First, he purports in Mind and Society: the development of higher mental process (1978) that “social interaction between people plays the first fundamental role in the process of cognitive development” (explained in the Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2012). This means we first learn by watching others and discussing new information with others, only then do we attempt to use our own cognitive systems for storing that new knowledge individually. “Vygotsky focused on the connections between

There are five identified central tenets of constructivism as a teaching philosophy: Constructivist teachers seek and value students’ points of view. This concept is similar to the reflective action process we call withitness, in which teachers attempt to perceive students’ needs and respond to them appropriately; Constructivist teachers challenge students to see different points of view and thereby construct new knowledge. Learning occurs when teachers ask students what they think they know about a subject and why they think they know it; Constructivist teachers recognize that curricula must have meaning for students. When students see the relevance of curricula, their interest in learning grows; Constructivist teachers create lessons that tackle big ideas, not small bits of information. By seeing the whole first, students are able to determine how the parts fit together; Constructivist teachers assess student learning in daily classroom activities, not through the use of separate testing or evaluation events. Students

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.