Constructivism
The latest catchword in educational circles is
“constructivism”. Constructivism is a
theory about knowledge and learning; it describes what “knowing” is and how one
“comes to know” Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests that humans
cannot be “given” information, which they automatically understand and use,
they must “construct” their own knowledge.
They have to build their knowledge through experience. Experiences allow
them to create mental images in their head.
Cognitive prospective theories focus on both what students learn and the
process by which they do so (Fosnot, 1996).
It
recognizes the construction of new understanding as a combination of prior
learning, new information, and readiness to learn. Individuals make choices about what new ideas
to accept and how to fit them into their established views of the world (Brooks
& Brooks, 1995). Constructivism has been labeled as the philosophy of
learning that proposes learners need to build their own understanding of new ideas.
Constructivism continued to grow throughout the
second half of the 20th century, and it is now the focus of numerous books and
journals.
What, exactly, is constructivism? Five basic themes
pervade the diversity of theories expressing constructivism. These themes are:
(1)
active agency, (2) order, (3) self, (4)
social-symbolic relatedness, and (5) lifespan development.
Human experiencing involves
continuous active agency. Second comes the contention
that much human activity is devoted to ordering processes – the organizational
patterning of experience by means of tacit, emotional meaning-making processes.
In a third constructivists argue that the organization of personal activity is
fundamentally self-referent or recursive. This makes the body a fulcrum of
experiencing, and it honors a deep phenomenological sense of selfhood or
personal identity. The fourth common theme of constructivism is that
individuals cannot be understood apart from their organic embedded ness in
social and symbolic systems. Finally, all of this active, meaningful, and
socially-embedded self-organization reflects an ongoing developmental flow in
which dynamic dialectical tensions are essential. Order and disorder co-exist
in lifelong quests for a dynamic balance that is never quite achieved. The
existential tone here
is unmistakable. Together, then, these five themes
convey a constructive view of human experience as one that emphasizes
meaningful action by a developing self in complex and unfolding relationships.
The basic premise of constructivism is that an
individual learner must actively "build" knowledge and skills (e.g., Bruner, 1990)
and that information exists within these built constructs rather than in the
external environment.
There
are nine general principles of learning that are derived from constructivism.
These nine principles are:
|
1. |
Learning
is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and constructs
meaning out of it. |
|
2. |
People learn to learn as they
learn. Learning consists both of constructing meaning and constructing
systems of meaning. |
|
3. |
Physical
actions and hands on experience may be necessary for learning, especially for children, but is
not sufficient; we need to provide activities which engage the mind as well
as the hand. Dewey called this reflective activity. |
|
4. |
Learning
involves language: the language that we use influences our learning. Lev Vygotsky, a psychologist that helped in the theory of
constructivism, argued that language and learning are inextricable
intertwined. |
|
5. |
Learning
is social activity: our learning is intimately associated with our connection
with other human beings, our teacher, our peers, our family, as well as
casual acquaintances. Dewey pointed out that most of traditional learning is
directed toward isolating the learner from social interaction, and towards
seeing education as a one-on-one relationship between the learner and the
objective material being learned. |
|
6. |
Learning
is a contextual: we learn in relationship to what else we know, what we
believe, our prejudices and our fears. |
|
7. |
One
needs knowledge to learn: it is not possible to absorb new knowledge without
having some structure developed from previous knowledge to build on. The more
we know, the more we learn. |
|
8. |
Learning
is not instantaneous: it takes time to learn. For significant learning we
need to revisit ideas, ponder them, try them out, play with them, and use
them. |
|
9. |
The
key component to learning motivation. (Constructivist Learning Theory,2002). “Education is about using knowledge, not acquiring
it” (Vermette, Foote, Bird, Mesibow,
Harris-Ewing, & Battaglia, 2001,p.3). “Constructivism is a psychological theory that
construes learning as an interpretive, recursive, building process by active
learners interacting with the physical and social world” (fosnot,
1996,p.30). |
A constructivist teacher sets up
problems and monitors students exploration, guides the
direction of student inquiry and promotes new patterns of thinking (Brooks
& Brooks, 1995). It is up to the
teacher to facilitate the constructivist learning process. The structure of the learning environment
should promote opportunities and events that encourage and support the process
of understanding.
The
teacher’s response “No”, causes the students to feel foolish. The teacher needs to encourage the student
and support them. This is the idea of
constructivism and what it means to be a constructivist teacher. The purpose of
a constructivist teacher is to make the students think for themselves, and not
to wait for the teacher to tell them what to think.
In
traditional classrooms the teacher seeks the correct answer to validate student
learning, whereas in a constructivist classroom the teacher seeks the students point of view (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). The students will learn to proceed with less
focus and direction from the teacher.
With a constructivist teacher the students can express their own ideas
clearly in their own words and not have to respond to restricted question.
The constructivist teacher has to
guide and not tell. The student has to
make their own meanings and decisions.
They are not to be handed to them by the teacher. To facilitate real learning, teachers need to
organize their classroom and their curriculum so that students can collaborate,
interact, and raise questions of both classmates and the teacher.
Creating a constructivist classroom:
Along
with having a constructivist teacher it is also needed to have a constructivist
classroom. Creating a constructivist classroom requires that the classroom
teacher must be in position to:
|
a) |
influence
or create motivating conditions for students, |
|
b) |
take
responsibility for creating problem situations |
|
c) |
foster
acquisition and retrieval of prior knowledge and |
|
d) |
create a social environment
that emphasizes the attitude of learning to learn. "The learning process
not the product of learning is the primary focus of constructivism…”(Olsen, 1999, p2).
|
The whole idea of a
constructivist classroom is characterized by the mutual respect between the
teacher and the students. In most
classrooms the respect is one way. The
students have to respect the teacher. A
constructivist teacher respects the students by allowing the students rights to
their feelings, ideas, and opinions. The
teacher refrains from using their power unnecessarily. A characteristic of constructivist education
is that the responsibility for decision making is shared by everyone in the
classroom (De Vries & Zan,
1995).
Instructors
need to realize that the best way to learn is not from lectures, but by letting
the learners construct knowledge for themselves. People often say that everyone can
learn. Yet the reality is that everyone does
learn. Every person is born with a brain
that functions as an immensely powerful processor. However, traditional schooling inhibits
learning by discouraging, ignoring, or punishing the brain’s natural learning
processes. In order for learners to be able to actively
construct their own knowledge, rather than receive preformed information
transmitted by others. Curriculum emphasis, classroom interactions, and
classroom dynamics must change in major ways (Green & Gredler,
2002).
Changing the traditional ways of schooling is not an
easy task though. Just as students do
not easily let go of their ideas, neither do school boards, principals,
parents, or even teachers. Constructi-vism promotes increased social
interaction and discussion in the classroom, both between teachers and students
and between students.
Advocates of a constructivistic approach suggest that educators first consider the knowledge and experiences students bring with them to the learning task. The school curriculum should then be built so that students can expand and develop this knowledge and experience by connecting them to new learning. Advocates of the behavioral approach, on the other hand, advocate first deciding what knowledge or skills students should acquire and then developing curriculum that will provide for their development.
If we start with the student's
knowledge base before we have established desired end goals, there is a
tendency to have the students simply “make progress,” thereby limiting students
who are not adequately prepared. These students may develop adequate thinking
skills, but can have large gaps in their knowledge and skills. On the other
hand, if we focus only on desired end goals, especially knowledge goals, without
consideration of the student's acquired knowledge and background, we run the
risk of developing knowledge and skills that have no meaning to the learner and
are therefore easily forgotten.
Constructivism represents one of
the big ideas in education. Its implications for how teachers teach and learn
to teach are enormous. To date, a focus on student-centered learning may well
be the most important contribution of constructivism.