Constructionist Theory

What is constructivism?

Constructivism is a theory based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know.

In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.

Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom environment, the students learn how to learn.

Historical and pedagogical perspective on constructivism

The early roots of Constructivism are from the educational theories of John Dewey and Jean Piaget (Brown and Green, 2006). Dewey set the foundation for constructivism by finding inquiry to be a key part of learning. Piaget’s theories also helped to shape constructivism with the key concepts of assimilation, accommodation and schema. Combined, these theories constitute the beginning of the constructivist learning process by focusing on how learning is processed and structured(Neo,2007). 
        Constructivism was further developed through the works of Bruner, Vygotsky and Papert (Neo, 2007). Vygotsky’s fundamental contribution to constructivism was the formal introduction of a social aspect to learning. Theorists who have contributed to the development of constructivism have a common theme which is knowledge is considered dynamic and constantly changing. Learning is an active process which involves the learners personal interpretations created through experience. Instructors take an interactive role providing scaffolding and collaboration for learners. Constructivist pedagogies are built from these foundations. 
        “In an educational context, pedagogy often refers to the teaching strategies, techniques or approaches that teachers use to deliver instruction or facilitate learning” (Wang, 2008, p.412).  Constructivism, stated simply, contemplates how the learner constructs knowledge in a meaningful way. One way this is done is a focus on the types of tasks given to learners.  Two guidelines used to determine if the task falls within constructivist pedagogy include if the task is meaningful and if it is authentic.  To be considered a meaningful task, the learner should derive applicable, understandable knowledge from it.  An authentic task is directly related to the course of study and is applicable to the real world.  
        Constructivism emphasizes the responsibility of learning lies within the student while the teacher acts as a facilitator of learning.  Desai, Hart, and Richards (2008) stated, “Technology is also often assumed to be the catalyst of new pedagogical change” (p. 327). This paper clarifies pedagogical change impacted by technology within three constructivist based learning theories; activity theory, social constructivism, and situated learning.

 

MAIN THEORIST/CREATORS OF THE THEORY

John Dewey (1933/1998) is often cited as the philosophical founder of this approach. Bruner (1990) and Piaget (1972) are considered the chief theorists among the cognitive constructivists, while Vygotsky (1978) is the major theorist among the social constructivists.

DEWEY

John Dewey rejected the notion that schools should focus on repetitive, rote memorization & proposed a method of "directed living" – students would engage in real-world, practical workshops in which they would demonstrate their knowledge through creativity and collaboration. Students should be provided with opportunities to think from themselves and articulate their thoughts.

Dewey called for education to be grounded in real experience. He wrote, "If you have doubts about how learning happens, engage in sustained inquiry: study, ponder, consider alternative possibilities and arrive at your belief grounded in evidence."

PIAGET

Piaget rejected the idea that learning was the passive assimilation of given knowledge. Instead, he proposed that learning is a dynamic process comprising successive stages of adaption to reality during which learners actively construct knowledge by creating and testing their own theories of the world.

Although less contemporary & influential, it has inspired several important educational principles such as:

• Discovery learning
• Sensitivity to children’s’ readiness
• Acceptance of individual differences
• Learners don’t have knowledge forced on them – they create it for themselves

A common misunderstanding regarding constructivism is that instructors should never tell students anything directly but, instead, should always allow them to construct knowledge for themselves. This is actually confusing a theory of pedagogy (teaching) with a theory of knowing. Constructivism assumes that all knowledge is constructed from the learner’s previous knowledge, regardless of how one is taught. Thus, even listening to a lecture involves active attempts to construct new knowledge.

BRUNER

Influenced by Vygotsky, Bruner emphasizes the role of the teacher, language and instruction. He thought that different processes were used by learners in problem solving, that these vary from person to person and that social interaction lay at the root of good learning.

Bruner builds on the Socratic tradition of learning through dialogue, encouraging the learner to come to enlighten themselves through reflection. Careful curriculum design is essential so that one area builds upon the other. Learning must therefore be a process of discovery where learners build their own knowledge, with the active dialogue of teachers, building on their existing knowledge.

Bruner initiated curriculum change based on the notion that learning is an active, social process in which students constructs new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge. He provides the following principles of constructivist learning:

• Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (readiness).
• Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral organization).
• Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given).

 

VYGOTSKY

Social constructivism was developed by Vygotsky. He rejected the assumption made by Piaget that it was possible to separate learning from its social context.

According to Vygotsky:

Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and, later on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals. (p. 57)

Although Vygotsky died at the age of 38 in 1934, most of his publications did not appear in English until after 1960. There are, however, a growing number of applications of social constructivism in the area of educational technology.

By the 1980s the research of Dewey and Vygotsky had blended with Piaget's work in developmental psychology into the broad approach of constructivism. The basic tenet of constructivism is that students learn by doing rather than observing. Students bring prior knowledge into a learning situation in which they must critique and re-evaluate their understanding of it.

This process of interpretation, articulation, and re-evaluation is repeated until they can demonstrate their comprehension of the subject.

TYPES OF CONSTRUCTISM THEORY 

Constructivism it has divided into the three main categories which are as mentioned below;

1. Cognitive constructivism

2. Social constructivism

3. Radical constructivism

 

         PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTIVISM

1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.

 Whether building accurate representations of reality, consensual meanings in social activities, or personally coherent models of reality, experience is paramount. Experience, both socially oriented and object oriented, is a primary catalyst of knowledge construction. Experience provides the activity upon which the mind operates. In addition, knowledge construction is enhanced when the experience is authentic. For the cognitive constructivist, authentic experiences are essential so that the individual can construct an accurate representation of the "real" world, not a contrived world. For the social and radical constructivists, authentic experiences are important so that the individual may construct mental structures that are viable in meaningful situations.

1. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.

While only social constructivism emphasizes social interaction as a basis for knowledge construction, cognitive and radical constructivism does assign social interaction a role. Social interaction provides for the development of socially relevant skills and knowledge, as well as providing a mechanism for perturbations that may require individual adaptation. In some cases, such as cultural mores and culturally arbitrary rituals (e.g., greetings, gender relations, dress), knowledge can only be attained through social contact. In addition, as an individual gains experience in a social situation, this experience may verify an individual's knowledge structures or it may contradict those structures. If there is contradiction or confusion, then the individual must accommodate this contradiction in order to maintain either an accurate model of reality or a coherent personal or social model of reality.

 

3.  Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.

All three types of constructivism emphasize the concept that knowledge serves an adaptive function. If knowledge is to enhance one's adaptation and functioning, then the knowledge attained (i.e., content and skills) must be relevant to the individual's current situation, understanding, and goal. This relevancy is likely to lead to an increase in motivation as the individual comes to understand the need for certain knowledge. Ultimately, experience with relevant tasks will provide the individual with the mental processes, social information, and personal experiences necessary for enhanced functioning within one's practical environment.

4. And skills should be understood within the framework of the learner’s prior knowledge. All learning begins within an individual's prior knowledge, regardless of constructivist affiliation. Understanding a student's behavior requires an understanding of the student's mental structures, that is, an understanding of the student's understanding. When a student replies that the answer to 54 - 38 is 24, the teacher must not think "Oh, that is wrong," but rather "What is the student's understanding of subtraction that has led to this answer?" In this case, the student appears to be using the following rule of subtraction, "subtract the smallest from the largest." While this rule is "incorrect" given our current system of mathematics, it is, none-the-less, the rule the student is using. Understanding the student's rule usage makes it much easier for the teacher to demonstrate, using manipulative of some type, the non-viability of the student's understanding. Only by attempting to understand a student's prior knowledge will the teacher be able to create effective experiences, resulting in maximal learning.

 

 

5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.

 Cognitive, social, and radical constructivism all assert that the acquisition of knowledge and understanding is an ongoing process that is heavily influenced by a student's prior knowledge. Unfortunately, knowledge and understanding are not directly visible, but rather must be inferred from action. Thus, to take into account an individual's current level of understanding in this ongoing teaching and learning process, a teacher must continually assess the individual's knowledge. This formative assessment is necessary to accurately create the next series of experiences and activities for students.

6.  Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware.

The underlying tenet of constructivism, and the main thread that holds together this array of theoretical positions, is the claim that learners are active in their construction of knowledge and meaning. This activity involves mental manipulation and self-organization of experience, and requires that students regulate their own cognitive functions, mediate new meanings from existing knowledge, and form an awareness of current knowledge structures. Within a cognitive constructivist perspective, self-regulation, self-mediation, and self-awareness would be subsumed under the construct of metacognition. Metacognition is considered an essential aspect of learning and consists of

 (1) Knowledge of cognition (i.e., knowing what one knows, knowing what one is capable of doing, and knowing what to do and when to do it) and

 (2) Regulation of cognition (i.e., the on-going task of planning, monitoring, and evaluating one's own learning and cognition).

While cognitive constructivism would emphasize self-regulation and self-awareness, social and radical constructivism would emphasize self-mediation. Self-mediation is represented within social and radical constructivism by Vygotsky's (1978) concept of the psychological tool, and Piaget's (1977) concept of reflective abstraction, respectively. Vygotsky (1978) believed that students construct mental signs, or psychological tools, to represent concepts and relationships, and that these tools are used to mediate "intermental" cognition. Similarly, Piaget (1977) theorized that students mentally reflect on the use and nature of objects and then construct new knowledge by generalizing, or abstracting, new relationships. The importance of the thought and self-regulation relationship was expressed by Vygotsky (1978), "The system of signs restructures the whole psychological process and enables the child to master her movement"

7.  Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors.         The role of the teacher in the learning process has often been a major factor in the apparent division between cognitive constructivism and social/radical constructivism. Teachers, in the cognitive constructivist perspective, are usually portrayed as instructors who "transmit knowledge." The teacher instructs, while the learner learns. In actuality, in the cognitive constructivist perspective, the role of the teacher is to create experiences in which the students will participate that will lead to appropriate processing and knowledge acquisition. Consequently, cognitive constructivism supports the teacher as a guide or facilitator to the extent that the teacher is guiding or facilitating relevant processing. Contrarily, since social and radical constructivism eschew any direct knowledge of reality, there is no factual knowledge to transmit and the

Only role for the teacher is to guide students to an awareness of their experiences and socially agreed-upon meanings. This teacher as guide metaphor indicates that the teacher is to motivate, provide examples, discuss, facilitate, support, and challenge, but not to attempt to act as a knowledge conduit.

8.  Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content.

 The relationship of multiple perspectives and multiple representations is one of cause and effect within cognitive constructivism. Experiencing multiple perspectives of a particular event provides the student with the raw materials necessary to develop multiple representations. These multiple representations provide students with various routes from which to retrieve knowledge and the ability to develop more complex schemas relevant to the experience. In addition, in social and radical constructivism there is no privileged "truth," only perceptual understandings that may prove to be more or less viable. This being the case, a student's understanding and adaptability is increased when he or she is able to examine an experience from multiple perspectives. These perspectives provide the student with a greater opportunity to develop a more viable model of their experiences and social interactions.

 Implication of constructivism theory on classroom teaching in basic education

Based on analysis above, we know that constructivism learning theory puts forward new explanations for learning and teaching.

According to this theory, students are the subject in teaching. Teachers should offer more

Humanism cares for students and creates a favorable teaching environment for students. It emphasizes on the

Initiatives and the interaction in teaching. Students should focus on exploration learning and cooperative learning

Based on previous knowledge and experiences by means of interactive actions. By this way, students can improve their cognitive ability continuously. Teachers can help students form the positive technique, the affection, the attitude, and the habit in learning. All these innovative ideas constitute the complete constructivism teaching theory system, which contribute a lot to modern teaching theory.

 

Constructivism teaching theory has important meanings for basic education that focuses on improving students’ comprehensive quality.

(1) Reform the teaching views. Pro. Lan Ye has said: “Today’s teaching reform should change not only the teaching theory but also the teachers’ teaching views, together with teachers’ daily teaching activities.” In the traditional teaching mode, teachers explain, analyze, and introduce too much. Students receive knowledge passively. They have few time and space for thinking. The traditional mode neglects students’ practicing process and just input fixed things into students. As a result, students will refuse to think by themselves. This mode taking teachers’ teaching as the center is not good for developing students’ potentials and their development. In contrast, the constructivism agrees that learning is initiative and positive. In learning, students are the subject of teaching. Without students’ initiative participation, the learning is meaningless. In teaching, teachers are the subject of teaching. Teachers mean to inspire and guide students to learn knowledge effectively.

(2) Emphasize on cooperation and communication and train students’ cooperative consciousness. In traditional teaching, the cooperation between teachers and students, students and students are neglects. Constructivism agrees that knowledge is the social construction of individuals and others by negotiation. Therefore, in the process of constructing knowledge, students must cooperate and communicate with others. In a cooperation and communication environment, students can enlarge their views, instead of receiving knowledge passively. It can help them to build up their own knowledge system, cultivate their innovative spirit and problem-solving ability. International Education Studies Vol. 3, No. 2; May 2010199 Meanwhile, it can make them respect others’ opinions and ideas.

(3) Students’ previous knowledge, experiences, thinking mode, learning habits and methods are the start for teaching. Modern cognitive psychology shows that learning is an interactive process of new knowledge and old knowledge. The former knowledge and techniques stored in the memory system are important internal conditions for generating study activities. Ausubel, in perspective of meaning study, gives priority to students’ original knowledge in learning. He said: “If I conclude all educational psychology into one principle, it will be that the only important factor affecting study is what learners have known. Knowing about this point, the teaching will be effective.” Constructivism learning theory illustrates this point deeply. Learning is an initiative process based on students’ previous knowledge and experiences. Before the class, teachers should prepare for two fields. Firstly, compare and analyze the curriculum standards and textbooks, and confirm the teaching targets. Make best use of textbooks flexibly. Secondly, analyze and understand students, and know students’ previous knowledge and experiences. Therefore, we advocate that teachers should take students’ previous knowledge and experiences as the growth point for new knowledge during the process of teaching. Guide students to produce

New knowledge and experience from original ones, achieving the mutual connection of new and old knowledge.

(4) Teaching should be changed from authoritative conducting to equal association and communication. In traditional teaching, teachers are at a sovereign authoritative position. They do not respect or care for students as necessary, which leads to a gap between teachers and students, and even stimulates conflicts. Ancient men said:

“People with more knowledge are teachers and with morals are examples.” Teachers should give students more respects, one more chance, and one more trust, building a kind and harmonious relations. Teachers should treat students with an equal, kind and considerate attitude, supplying a loose environment for students’ learning. Then, students can learn to communicate with teachers and response to teachers’ praises and criticizes, which can greatly improve the relations between teachers and students. Construct a democratic and equal teacher-student relation.

(5) Create a better teaching environment. Constructivism learning theory requires to study in real or semi-real environment, emphasizing on non-structural knowledge or students’ previous experiences. Traditional teaching focuses on structural knowledge but not non-structural knowledge and students’ life experiences. Therefore, in teaching, we should create an interactive learning environment for students by modern teaching media, helping students to explore and discover new knowledge. Students should solve problems by themselves. Build a bridge between new knowledge and students’ previous knowledge, which can improve students’ ability of solving problems.

 

Constructivism in the Classroom

Learners control their learning. This simple truth lies at the heart of the constructivist approach to education.

As educators, we develop classroom practices and negotiate the curriculum to enhance the likelihood of student learning. But controlling what students learn is virtually impossible. The search for meaning takes a different route for each student. Even when educators structure classroom lessons and curriculums to ensure that all students learn the same concepts at the same time, each student still constructs his or her own unique meaning through his or her own cognitive processes. In other words, as educators we have great control over what we teach, but far less control over what students learn.

Shifting our priorities from ensuring that all students learn the same concepts to ensuring that we carefully analyze students' understandings to customize our teaching approaches is an essential step in educational reform that results in increased learning. Again, we must set standards for our own professional practice and free students from the anti-intellectual training that occurs under the banner of test preparation.

The search for understanding motivates students to learn. When students want to know more about an idea, a topic, or an entire discipline, they put more cognitive energy into classroom investigations and discussions and study more on their own. We have identified five central tenets of constructivism (Grennon Brooks & Brooks, 1993).

• First, constructivist teachers seek and value students' points of view. Knowing what students think about concepts helps teachers formulate classroom lessons and differentiate instruction on the basis of students' needs and interests.
• Second, constructivist teachers structure lessons to challenge students' suppositions. All students, whether they are 6 or 16 or 60, come to the classroom with life experiences that shape their views about how their worlds work. When educators permit students to construct knowledge that challenges their current suppositions, learning occurs. Only through asking students what they think they know and why they think they know it are we and they able to confront their suppositions.
• Third, constructivist teachers recognize that students must attach relevance to the curriculum. As students see relevance in their daily activities, their interest in learning grows.
• Fourth, constructivist teachers structure lessons around big ideas, not small bits of information. Exposing students to wholes first helps them determine the relevant parts as they refine their understandings of the wholes.
• Finally, constructivist teachers assess student learning in the context of daily classroom investigations, not as separate events. Students demonstrate their knowledge every day in a variety of ways. Defining understanding as only that which is capable of being measured by paper-and-pencil assessments administered under strict security perpetuates false and counterproductive myths about academia, intelligence, creativity, accountability, and knowledge.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

There are many different conditions that influence transfer of learning in the classroom. These conditions include features of the task, features of the learner, features of the organization and social context of the activity. The features of the task include practicing through simulations, problem-based learning, and knowledge and skills for implementing new plans. The features of learners include their ability to reflect on past experiences, their ability to participate in group discussions, practice skills, and participate in written discussions. All of the unique features will contribute to a student’s ability to use transfer of learning. There are structural techniques that can aid learning transfer in the classroom. These structural strategies include hugging and bridging.

Hugging uses the technique of simulating an activity in order to encourage reflexive learning. An example of the hugging strategy is when a student practices teaching a lesson or when a student role plays with another student. These examples encourage critical thinking which will engage the student and help them understand what they are learning which is one of the goals of transfer of learningas well as desirable difficulti.

Bridging is when instruction encourages thinking abstractly by helping to identify connections between ideas and to analyze those connections. An example is when a teacher lets the student analyze their past test results and the way in which they got those results. This includes amount of study time and study strategies. By looking at their past study strategies it can help them come up with strategies in the future in order to improve their performance. These are some of the ideas that are important to successful practices of hugging and bridging.

There are many benefits of transfer of learning in the classroom. One of the main benefits is the ability to quickly learn a new task. This has many real-life applications such as language and speech processing. Transfer of learning is also very useful in teaching students to use higher cognitive thinking by applying their background knowledge to new situations

 REFFERENCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(philosophy_of_education)

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism

http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/constructivist.html.