Constuctivism in Practice

This week, the class resources discussed Constructivist and Constructionist Learning Theory.

The principles of Constructivist Learning Theory are:
- teacher as facilitator
- learning is student-centered
- cooperative and collaborative group projects
- tasks have real-world application and meaning
- students construct knowledge to answer an essential question or gain skills from experience
- discussion between students themselves and the teacher and students
- reflection using higher order thinking questions.

The principles of Constructionist Learning Theory are the same as Constructivist with the addition of students creating an external artifact.

Our text explored the instructional strategy of “Generating and Testing Hypotheses”. Students need to develop an essential question or statement (hypothesis) and then through research, discussion, discovery and experiments, test the hypothesis. As a result of the testing, students can then adjust / change the original hypothesis or realize that a new hypothesis needs to be created. This strategy does support Constructivism and Constructionism Learning Theories. The learning is student-centered and students create knowledge during the testing process. After testing is completed and a solution / answer is found to the hypothesis / question, students can then reflect on the process using higher order thinking questions such as why and how. This reflection can lead to the creation of an external artifact representing application of the student’s process and knowledge.

In the classroom, there are six tasks that help students implement this strategy. These tasks are (1) system analysis, (2) problem solving, (3) historical investigation, (4) invention, (5) experimental inquiry, and (6) decision making (Pitler, et al., 2007, p. 203). Technology provides many valuable resources, programs and applications that allow students to generate and tests hypotheses. Spreadsheets allow students to manipulate and test data as well as see visual / graphical representations of data. “…[D]ata collection tools enables students to see the bigger picture and recognize patterns” (Pitler, et al., 2007, p. 210). Web resources provide interactive applications and simulations.

“Generalizing and Testing Hypotheses” is a valuable instructional strategy that supports Constructivist and Constructionist Learning Theories. However, as a teacher responsible to make sure that students master state standards, it seems difficult to implement this strategy. As a teacher, I love the idea of having students working together to discover the answer to an essential question. Due to specific standards I am responsible for, it seems difficult to simply be a facilitator and not guide students through the process. One idea I had is at the end of the year, give students a topic and have them generate and test an essential question. During this year end project, students could use many of the standards / concepts that were taught throughout the course.


References

Glazer, E. (2001). Problem Based Instruction. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. Retrieved July 18, 2010, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Han, S., and Bhattacharya, K. (2001). Constructionism, Learning By Design, and Project Based Learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. Retrieved July 18, 2010, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver, Colorado: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McRel).