The Role Of A Constructivist Teacher

Studying child development influenced my Philosophy of Education by giving me an insight of how children think and learn. Knowing that constructivism has roots in cognitive theory, basically the idea of how people construct their own understanding of the world (Philosophy of Education 1). Knowing a constructivist teacher will use student’s prior knowledge to create classroom lessons and use questions to encourage students to understand on a higher level (Philosophy of Education 1).

Social Constructivism defines teachers as educational facilitators who deliver a framework in which children can develop their

The rules that I have established for my classroom resemble some of the expectations that can be seen in industrial labs. The students will be reminded of the classroom rules via visual (posters) and verbal (reminders) cues. An example of a verbal cue is the daily Lab Safety Contract reminder. Everyday I will read a line from the Lab Safety Contract that the students signed. The rule of obeying the Lab Safety Contract can be difficult due to the amount of information in the contract, but the daily reminders will ease the pressure of remembering all the details. In order to provide the semi-constructivist classroom environment, the student body will create one rule for the classroom.

The concept of Constructivism underpins many features observed in inquiry learning. (Reynolds, 2014) A Constructivists approach maintains that individuals construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiences and reflection. (Snowman & Biehler, 2006) Constructivism theory affirms that people create their own knowledge by drawing on their past knowledge and combining it with new ideas to create their own learning. The teacher’s role is to thoughtfully sequenced and facilitate the knowledge that is appropriate for the student’s current level of understanding. (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010) These characteristics of Constructivism inspire the process of inquiry

Let us start by first comparing the constructionist classroom to that of the traditional classroom. Both are intended for learning, both have students, and both have aspirations that students will learn. However there are big differences from the constructionist classroom to that of the traditional classroom. The traditional classroom is set up with the teacher giving the lecture. The students are to listen to the lecture and take notes. This is all with the hope the students will be able to keep their attention. In the book Impact Teaching the author talks about how adults can only maintain attention for the maximum amount of time of 15 minutes. This time is even less with younger students. Therefore the constructionist classroom is

Therefore, an example of a constructivist learning environment in a pre- primary classroom would firstly begin with the educator observing a common interest or conversation amongst the young children, for example dogs. As a group the educator would ask the children and document everything they currently knew about dogs. Through this class discussion the educator would document questions about dogs the children did not know. Next through guidance the educator will support the young children in finding the answers to their unknown questions. Through various activities created by the educator, the children will build up knowledge about dogs. The children are then given the opportunity to display their learning to others including friends and family through a model creation or through role play for example (Project Approach, 2014).

In this article the author’s discuss the area of cooperative learning and the constructivist philosophy and how they relate to each other. There are examples given of different classroom activities that involve cooperate learning and the constructivist philosophy. In these various classrooms, the students learned subject matter and developed meanings that were personalized to them and they also used prior knowledge and engaged in classroom discussions. In these examples, the teacher was the facilitator, who motivated the practice and reinforced

The constructivist teacher be responsible for tools such as problem-solving and inquiry-based learning activities like in e-learning structure so that pupils can express and test their ideas, draw conclusions and inferences, and transport their knowledge in a collaborative learning setting. The teacher must comprehend the pupils' previous conceptions and monitor the activities to address this information and then construct and build on it. Constructivist teachers hearten pupils to evaluate how the activity is helping them increase understanding. By enquiring themselves and their approaches, pupils develop expert learners as they acquire how to learn, with the use of computers and online. The pupils then have the essential tools to become life-long learners.

There are two major problems identified in this case study. To begin, Mr. Entenmann is having a hard time connecting with his students as he does not have a lot of experience with students that are culturally different from him. He is also struggling with the many changes that are occurring in his school. Mr. Entenmann is set in his ways and is used to his direct instruction approach to teaching, however, the students and fellow co-workers have moved to a constructivist model. A constructivist perspective holds that learning is a

Social Constructivists believe that by scaffolding a child’s learning in a way that each child will ‘construct’ their own understanding of each mathematical concept will give each child a sense of ownership and therefore develop a better relationship with the learning process.

According to constructivist theorists it is important that students do not have misconceptions before they start to learn a new concept. Teachers should identify the students current understanding and ideas in order to construct new meaning. This can be done, for example, by giving a quiz as an introduction to a new subject, by group discussion, by giving activities after presenting new

Teachers who understand that some knowledge is taught would try to utilize their own experiences and create opportunities to relate real world activities to students in their classroom (Seifert & Sutton, 2009). Constructivism relates to how knowledge is a result of directly relating an experience with an activity (Seifert & Sutton, 2009). A teacher who believes in the necessity of learning through detailed instruction would use lecturing or presentations to get their points across.

A problem arises because teachers typically report they agree that constructivist teaching is more effective to achieve student learning goals, but the empirical research into how many teachers actually use a constructivist method in the classroom does not align with the reported teacher beliefs. The best way to align the reported beliefs of teachers with the strategies they use in the classroom is to praise and reward those who utilize it so that other teachers can follow in their footsteps as well as see the benefits of doing so.

Instructional practices based in social constructivism involve students constructing new knowledge utilizing social interaction amongst themselves and with teachers. Learner-centered classrooms require significant planning and forethought by teachers to ensure that instruction is well structured, but fluid enough to allow for student-led inquiry. This paper analyzes several studies and discussions put forth within the last five years that discuss how instructional practices, like cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning and scaffolding, are ways teachers can use social constructivist-based practices in the classroom. While most of the studies, which were mostly done within a single school in a small number of classrooms, show that cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning and scaffolding is effective, more studies are needed to demonstrated a direct correlation between these practices and student achievement on a broader scale.

We’re discouraged to think outside of the box, and be creative. Instead of discouraging the student own individuality, why don’t they instead allow the student to take the time to figure it out him or herself, and if they get it wrong, let them try it again until they get it right. How many times in your life have you had people tell you that you shouldn’t do something, or tell you that something wasn’t a good idea? You hear it, but it’s when you do it yourself, and learn from it that you really take away the lesson that is to be taught. The facts that we have to memorize now could be completely irrelevant in five or more years from now. “The current K-12 system isn 't preparing students for today 's needs. An example of the gap in our education system is found in the shortage of graduates from the programs that meet the insatiable demands of our knowledge economy.” (Baker.) In schools is information all that really matters? The educational system today is discouraging students from reaching their full potential of actually learning. They do this by making them conform to their system, which is restraining them to think outside of the box and awaken their minds.