What is Constructivism:
According to Dr. Steve Olusegun in his article Constructivism Learning Theory: A Paradigm for Teaching and Learning “Constructivism is basically a theory which is 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 (Bereiter, 1994). When we encounter something new, we must reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant.”
But what does this really mean?
This means as educators we must allow students to build their own ideas about specific topics which should be highly complex, highly organized, and strongly tied to the specific subject matter. As an educator you also need to take into consideration students’ prior knowledge, which includes misconceptions, a students specific learning styles, and incorporating a depth of understanding rather than just the knowledge of vocabulary.
Video of Constructivism in the classroom:
Journal Review:
The journal I will be reviewing is: A Student-Centered Approach to Teaching General Biology That Really Works: Lord’s Constructivist Model Put to a Test.
This article discusses the difference between the two teaching strategies. These two strategy types are “Traditional teaching” and “Experimental teaching” which is based on the Constructivist Learning Model.
Traditional teaching:
- Teacher centered lecture.
- Instruction emphasized on content recitation.
- Doesn’t allow for students to reflect upon the material presented, relate it to previous knowledge, or apply it to real life situations.
- Can be very hard for students to stay engaged and focused.
Experimental teaching:
- The 5 E’s learning cycle.
- Engage, a short demonstration or introduction which will introduce the new material.
- Explore, provide students with activities that the current concepts, processes, and skills are identified and conceptual change is facilitated. This can also be in the for of an experiment where students get to design and conduct an investigation.
- Explain, provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their conceptual understanding or processing skills.
- Elaborate, teachers challenge and extend students’ understanding and skills. With new experiences students develop a deeper and broader understanding and more adequate skills.
- Evaluate, allows teachers to assess a students progress in the classroom surrounding a specific topic and also encourages students to assess their understanding as well.
Constructivism based lesson plan: Photosynthesis
Engage: Do a demonstration that will express the amount of oxygen that the plant is producing. This is measuring the amount of respiration.
Explore: This will be a hands on activity where students will test different types of soil, different amounts of water, and amounts of sunlight. Once they have the new plants set up they will begin testing the respiration rates.
Explain: Encourage students to make their own definition of photosynthesis, and create an a personal definition of the process of photosynthesis along with the products and reactants.
Elaborate: They will elaborate on the concept of photosynthesis by researching the amount of respiration they need and use within their life.
Evaluate: A report based on the plant that went through the most respiration. It will be the students job to find support from journals and academic websites that explains why the certain combination of sunlight, water, and soil created the highest respiration rate.
https://twitter.com/MissChasteen/status/1049807482300899328
Burrowes, P. A. (2003). A Student-Centered Approach to Teaching General Biology That Really Works: Lords Constructivist Model Put to a Test. The American Biology Teacher,65(7), 491-502. doi:10.1662/0002-7685(2003)065[0491:asattg]2.0.co;2
Bailey, I think you did an awesome job with your blog! I really liked how you opened with what you found for a definition of constructivism. I think it really sums it up nicely and concisely. I also liked how you showed the difference between the two teaching styles and showed how experimental teaching has so many more benefits than traditional teaching. I also like that you chose a more difficult concept for your learning cycle. I think it’s been easy for us to come up with things in class because we’ve had fairly easy concepts to try to find a way to teach, but photosynthesis requires a lot of work and effort and is much more complex than other things. Do you think that you will find it more difficult to teach harder concepts like this using the learning cycle since they are typically thought of as more lecture/notes based?
Margaux, thank you for all of the positive feedback back! I believe it is very important to understand the difference between traditional teaching strategies and constructivism teaching strategies. I do believe that I will be harder to put difficult topics in the learning cycle but I believe that students will learn a lot better that way so the hard work that I have to put into making the learning cycle will be worth it. Thanks again for the feedback!
Bailey,
Awesome blog! I enjoyed how much emphasis you put on the fact that students come in with prior knowledge and that we have to keep that in mind when we are designing our lessons! I also really loved your lesson plan with the learning cycle and constructivism! The comparison of traditional teaching and experimental teaching is also really interesting. One point you made in the Traditional Teaching category is that it can be hard to keep students engaged. Do you think that it’s possible in traditional teaching to really engage students, or is it just beyond the scope of the method?
Bryce, Thank you for your positive feedback! I think it is really important when creating our lesson plans that we understand the background knowledge that our students already have. I do think it is possible for teachers in the traditional classroom to keep their students engaged but it is way more challenging. I feel like constructivism will just allow students to gain a better understanding of the subject. Thanks again for the positive feedback!
Bailey,
I really like your blog! I especially love the compare and contrast between a traditional classroom vs. a classroom where constructivism is used. I think it really helps with visualizing the benefits a constructivist classroom provides for the students and the teacher. Because constructivist learning and using the 5 E’s learning cycle is a lot of work, how will you make sure you’re using it during every lesson when you have your own classroom?
Claire, thank you for the positive feedback. I think it is really important to describe the differences between a constructivist classroom versus a traditional classroom. This was a really challenging question for me because I believe somethings will not need to be taught with the learning cycle but then again it could be really helpful to teach every subject with the learning cycle. So if I can seen students are struggling with a topic that I didn’t teach in the learning cycle I would go ahead and restart the lesson using a well put together learning cycle lesson plan. Thanks for the positive feedback again!
Bailey,
I really enjoyed reading your blog! I like how you started the blog with a definition of constructivism. How’s a reader supposed to get through a blog about constructivism without even knowing what it means?
Your video also gives the reader a good idea of what constructivism really is. This video is very beneficial to your blog!
You also gave a great example of how to incorporate this into the classroom! I love the photosynthesis example. The topic is also relevant for science teachers.
My question for you, is do you feel like experimental teaching is always better that traditional teaching? If yes, why? If no, when do you think traditional teaching is more beneficial?
Great blog!
Katie, thank you for all of the positive feedback! I really enjoyed creating the photosynthesis learning cycle because I could be so creative with it. I do think experimental teaching is a better technique than the traditional teaching strategy. The experimental strategy allows for more hand on activities. The experimental teaching strategy also gives teachers the opportunities to incorporate real life situations in their teaching plans. Which I feel is a very important part of being a teacher! Once again thanks for the feedback.