EDU 330: Educational Psychology Daniel Moos, PhD Constructivism EDU 330: Educational Psychology Daniel Moos, PhD

Constructivism: Introduction (I) Which way is the bus below traveling? To the left or to the right? Please do not share your answer with anyone yet…

Constructivism: Introduction (II) ES students all over the United States were shown this picture and asked the same question. When asked, "Why do you think the bus is traveling to the left?" 

 They answered: 
"Because you can't see the door to get on the bus."

Constructivism: Introduction (III) "The law of gravity says no fair jumping up without coming back down." Kohlberg’s Theory: Market Exchange (reciprocity) "How will that help?" -- Kindergarten student, when the class was instructed to hold up two fingers if any of them had to go to the bathroom. Piaget: abstract/symbolic thought One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little to her class. She came to the part of the story where Chicken Little tried to warn the farmer. She read, '..... and so Chicken Little went up to the farmer and said, 'The sky is falling, the sky is falling!' The teacher paused then asked the class, 'And what do you think that farmer said?' One little girl raised her hand and said, 'I think he said; ’S _ _ T! A talking chicken!'' The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes. Piaget: Role of schemas

Meaningful Learning Within a Constructivist Framework Jerome Bruner and Discovery Learning: An Early Constructivist Perspective   Too much school learning emphasizes rote learning that cannot be applied outside the classroom  Children should be helped to discover how ideas relate to each other and to existing knowledge, and how to solve problems

Constructivism: Assumptions How do children construct knowledge? Learners construct knowledge that makes sense to them. New learning depends on current understanding. Social interaction facilitates learning. The most meaningful learning takes place in real-world tasks.

We have already seen some constructivists…  Cognitive Constructivism (Piaget) – Emphasizes the development of meaningful learning by focusing on the cognitive processes that take place within individuals  Social Constructivism (Vygotsky) – Emphasizes the development of meaningful learning by focusing on culture and social interactions 2

Constructivism: Implications (ie application) to the classroom Provide learners with a varietyof examples and representations of content. Connect content to the real world. Treat verbal explanations skeptically. Promote high levels of interaction. Make assessment an integral part of the teaching-learning process.

Constructivism: Limitations As with any theory, there are some limitations you should be aware of... Time consuming! Are all forms of understanding equally “good”? What of the reality independent of individual understanding? Provides theoretical explanation of individual differences; but, does it adequately provide explanation of how to address these differences? Does not address (or adequately) describe all aspects of learning

Conceptual Change What is conceptual change? Learning that generally changes an existing conception (i.e. idea, belief, way of thinking) Think of a time when you experienced a “conceptual change”. What was that change? What led to that change? What do you think teachers can do to support conceptual change?