© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 1 CHAPTER 10 Social Constructivist Approaches © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 2 Learning Goals 1. Compare the social constructivist approach to other constructivist approaches. 2. Explain how teachers and peers can jointly contribute to children’s learning. 3. Make effective decisions in structuring small-group work. 4. Describe two social constructivist programs. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 3 Social Constructivist Approaches Social Constructivist Approaches to Teaching Situated Cognition Social Constructivism in the Broader Constructivist Context © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 4 Connecting with Teachers Chuck Rawls, a teacher at Appling Middle School in Macon, Georgia, discussed peer tutoring, a social constructivist approach to instruction. Chris, a student at the school, switched places with Rawls and taught his class using many of Rawls’ intentional and unintentional phrases and mannerisms.  Chris became Rawls’ resident expert of subject-verb agreement.  Rawls learned two lessons: (1) don’t be afraid to try something different, and (2) peer tutoring works. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 5 Constructivist vs. Social Constructivist Approaches to Teaching Constructivism emphasizes how individuals actively construct knowledge and understanding. Social constructivist approaches emphasize the social contexts of learning, and that knowledge is mutually built and constructed. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 6 Situated Cognition …refers to the idea that thinking is “situated” in social and physical contexts, not within an individual’s mind. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 7 Social Constructivist Approaches Teachers and Peers as Joint Contributors to Students’ Learning Scaffolding Cognitive Apprenticeship Cooperative Learning Tutoring © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 8 Teachers and Peers as Joint Contributors to Students’ Learning Scaffolding: Changing the level of support over the course of a teaching session. Cognitive Apprenticeship: An expert stretches and supports the novice’s understanding and use of cultural skills. Tutoring: Includes peers, classroom aides, volunteers, and mentors. Cooperative Learning: Students work in small groups to help each other. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 9 Strategies for Using Peer Tutoring Spend time training tutors Use cross-age rather than same-age tutoring when possible Let students participate as tutor and tutee roles Don’t let tutors give tutees tests Don’t overuse peer tutoring Let parents know their child will be involved in peer tutoring © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 10 Enter the Debate Should teachers use high-ability students to tutor their struggling students? YESNO © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 11 Cooperative Learning Research (Slavin, 1995) Cooperative learning can improve student achievement when:  Group rewards are generated, and  Individuals are held accountable. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 12 Cooperative Learning Approaches © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 13 Cooperative Learning Approaches © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 14 Cooperative Learning Approaches © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 15 Creating a Cooperative Community Class cooperation Interclass cooperation School-wide cooperation School-parent cooperation School-neighborhood cooperation © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 16 Evaluating Cooperative Learning Positive aspects of cooperative learning  Increased interdependence and interactions with other students  Enhanced motivation to learn  Improved learning, teaching material to others Possible drawbacks  Some students prefer to work alone  Low-achieving students may slow down high- achieving students  Some students may do all the work while others do little (social loafing) © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 17 Social Constructivist Approaches Structuring Small- Group Work Composing the Group Team-Building Skills Structuring Small- Group Interaction © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 18 Structuring Small-Group Work Composing the Group: Heterogeneous groups work. Caution should be used so that average-ability students don’t get lost as high- and low-ability students form relationships like those between student and teacher. Team-Building Skills: Help students become better listeners. Give students practice contributing to a team product. Discuss the value of team leaders. Structuring Group Interaction: Assigning students to specific roles within the group gives all members a sense of importance. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 19 Strategies for Developing Students’ Team-Building Skills Don’t begin the year on a difficult task. Do team building at the level of the cooperative group (2–6 students), not at the level of the entire class. Work with students to help them become better listeners. Give students practice contributing to a common product. Discuss the value of group leadership. Work with team leaders as they deal with problems. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 20 Social Constructivist Programs Fostering a Community of Learners Schools for Thought © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 21 Fostering a Community of Learners (Browne, 1997; Campione, 2001) Focus: Literacy Development and Biology Program Emphasis 1. Uses adults as role models 2. Children teaching children 3. Online computer consultation This approach fosters a culture of learning, caring, sharing, and the production of work that is shared with others. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 22 Schools for Thought (Lamon et al., 1996) Curriculum: In-depth, cross-disciplinary inquiry into real-world problems. Instruction: Collaborative, self-directed, exploratory learning. Community: Learning and problem solving for the betterment of communities. Technology: Communicate electronically with a community of learner’s beyond the classroom. Assessment: Authentic performances, assessment aligned with learning and instruction, self- assessment. © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 23 Classroom Connections: Crack the Case — The Social Constructivist Classroom 1. What are the issues in this case? 2. What do you think Mariana did incorrectly? 3. What should she do now to recover her constructivist classroom? 4. How can she elicit the cooperation of the parents? © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 24 Reflection & Observation Reflection: Think about your educational experiences with group work. What worked well? What did not work well? Why or why not? © 2011 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.