Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Constructivism and instructional design
Five elements of constructivist approach to teaching
Constructivism and instructional design
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Constructivism and instructional design
Every year, education majors across the U.S. face a barrage of learning theories and models in their education courses. Professors waste no time in introducing them to Pavlov and his dogs, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Maslow’s Hierarchy, Piaget, Skinner, Gagne, Bruner and more (Marsh, McFadden, and Price, n.d.). From the work of these great men come such learning theories as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, three paradigms that have shaped our current educational system. The next generation of teachers creates countless practice lesson plans based around these theories. Unfortunately, there is a wide divide between the psychology of how humans learn and the constraints of an American classroom. The SUCCEED instructional design model attempts to marry prominent learning theory with the realities of the classroom to create a model that is both fundamentally sound and realistic.
SUCCEED draws primarily on the cognitive and constructivist learning theories. The cognitive learning theory espouses that the human mind is complex in nature and must be the central focus of any learning model. According to Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2010), “Mental processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving need to be explored” in order for educators to best address learning needs. According to this theory, learners are like a computer. New information serves as the input, the brain processes the information, and the output is observable behavior that results from new understanding. It is important to note that behavioral outcomes are not the result of stimuli, but rather the mental processes that take place within the brain. These processes make information meaningful by relating it to prior knowledge, organizing it, and s...
... middle of paper ...
...2010 from http://www.thirteen.org/
edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html
Funderstanding. (2008). Constructivism. Retrieved October 6, 2010 from
http://www.funderstanding.com/content/constructivism
Garrison, C., & Ehringhaus, M. (2007). Formative and summative assessments in the classroom.
Retrieved October 10, 2010 http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/WebExclusive/
Assessment/tabid/1120/Default.aspx
Learning Theories Knowledgebase. (2010, October). Cognitivism. Retrieved October 10, 2010
from http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html
Marsh, G., McFadden, A., and Price, B. (n.d.). Learning theories. Retrieved October 24, 2010
from http://www.emtech.net/learning_theories.htm
Morris, C. (2010). Some critiques of Howard Earl Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory.
Retrieved October 24, 2010 from http://www.igs.net/~cmorris/critiques.html
...of teaching and learning. Modeling is a good way to promote learning. The teachers can use modeling to promote desired behavior. Teachers can enhance self-efficacy among students by teaching basic knowledge and then skills to mastery. Teacher can assure students that they can be successful and point other successful students like them who have been successful by using the techniques provided by the teacher (Ormrod, 2011). Teachers can promote self-regulated learning by encouraging students to set goals and performing self-evaluation. To conclude social cognitive theory describes learning as an internal phenomenon that may or may not be reflected in behavior and people’s observation of those around them affect their behavior and cognitive processes (Ormrod, 2011).
There are many theories surrounding education and what lies within our biological functions that can effect how we learn as human beings. Our book, Creating Literacy Instruction For All Students, by Thomas Gunning goes more in depth of these approaches and theories. Behaviorism is a theory that “stresses observable responses to stimuli”. This approach includes conditioning good behaviors and eliminating unwanted behaviors (Gunning, 4). Another major theory surrounding learning is cognitivism, which is “based on the proposition that mental processes exist and can be studied (Gunning, 4). Under this theory of congnitivism lies Piaget’s theory that each child develops through constructivism, in building their own understanding of the world and the realities within it. Similarly, Vygotsky stresses the importance of social constructivism in how social encounters can change cognitive development (Gunning, 5). The cognitive behavioral approach is to help the students realize their potential by showing them what they must to do be successful. This is important to help the students stretch beyond their conceived notions of failure they may have gained from previous academic issues (Gunning, 6). Under this cognitive behavioral approach lies both the top-down and bottom-top strategies. Finally, the reader response theory challenges the child to construct meaning from the written text. To engage and understand, ...
In The article “Brainology” “Carol S Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, differentiates between having a fixed and growth mindset in addition how these mindsets have a deep effect on a student’s desire to learn. Individuals who have a fixed mindset believe they are smart without putting in effort and are afraid of obstacles, lack motivation, and their focus is to appear smart.. In contrast, students with a growth mindset learn by facing obstacles and are motivated to learn. Dwecks argues that students should develop a growth mindset. Students who have a growth mindset learn by facing obstacle because they see them as a way of learning.
Watching a young child grow from infancy to toddler hood, we marvel at the amount of learning that has allowed her to understand her expanding environment. Those early years provide the basis for language, physical dexterity, social understanding, and emotional development that she will use for the rest of her life. All of this knowledge is acquired before she even sets foot in school! This child has taught herself by gathering information and experiencing the world around her. This is an example of constructivism. Constructivism emphasizes the importance of the knowledge, beliefs, and skills an individual brings to the experience of learning. 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 then into their established views of the world (Brooks & Brooks, 1995).
John Dewey once said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” You may ask why John Dewey should be given merit for anything he says. In truth, John Dewey was one of the biggest supporters of constructivism in classroom. On a basic level, constructivism is described as learning by doing. This concept, while not necessarily new, is considered progressive. Today, we will explore the history and details of this concept, analyze how constructivism effects the modern classroom, and wrap it up with some concluding remarks.
I will explain the psychology of learning and the theories I use in my practice. Analysing these theories and teaching methods will give rise, to investigating how these will help in teaching and learning ‘In a nutshell, a principle is a value, belief or ethic relating to something you do and the theory is that which explains why it works’.(Wilson 2009:350) In delivering of a lessons, educator must keep in mind SMARTER objectives.
Schunk, D. H. (2000) Learning theories. An educational perspective. (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Krause, K, Bochner, S, Duchesne, S & McNaugh, A 2010, Educational Psychology: for learning & teaching, 3rd edn, Cengage Learning Australia, Victoria
Constructivism represents a paradigm shift form education based on cognitive theories. This concept assumes that learners construct their own knowledge on the basis of interaction with their environment. (Gagnon & Collay, 200?) The role of the teacher as a constructor of the learning experience to ensure authentic curriculum and assessment which is responsive to the skills, needs and experiences of the learner, within established curriculum framework and with the reference to the achievement of literacy, numeracy, retention and attainment of outcomes. Krause, Bochner and Duchesne (p.157) comment that “as learners interact with their environment, they link information learned through experience to previous knowledge, and so construct new understandings and knowledge.” Constructivism then inturn encourages Teachers and Learning Managers to recognise the value of prior knowledge and experiences that each child brings with them into the classroom, and help them (the students) build on their understandings of the world by providing appropriate learning experience plans.
Our brains are highly developed as humans and in today’s world we need to provide students with learning that is meaningful that provides critical thinking skills, creative thinking, ingenuity, and talent. Brain-based learning with a mixture of constructivism is what my classroom will look like. By combining these two theories I believe that the psychology and physiology of an individual will be able to shine brightly through their ability to learn. “Instead of putting most of the emphasis on memorization and recall, it may be smarter and more efficient to place more emphasis on the context in which something is learned” (Jensen, 2008, p. 165).
Instructional Design is a systematic approach to design, evaluation and management of instruction. It helps to facilitate learning in an effort to improve. There are many models that have been developed to assist in the design of instructional materials. This paper will compare three: ADDIE, ASSURE and Kemp with a focus on online learning.
In closing, implementing only one theory of learning can be limiting to the success of students in a classroom setting. A more effective approach would be “draw from two or more theoretical perspectives… to better capture the complex nature of human thinking and learning” (Ormrod, 2012). According to Howard Gardner, there are multiple intelligences in human individuals that are based on biological and cultural elements (Brualdi, 1996). Since each of the intelligences work independently of each other, but also complement each other individuals learn, teachers should teach accordingly (Brualdi, 1996).
How do people learn? A question of interest for both students and teachers. People are different so it should be obvious that there are different methods of learning and teaching. This paper will focus on the Social Cognitive Learning Theory (SCLT), the Constructivist Learning Theory (CLT) and their connection to practice. How each theory can be used to guide and plan educational programs will be discussed with examples to demonstrate how learning outcomes can vary with theory application.
Kameenui, Edward J., and Deborah C. Simmons. Designing Instructional Strategies: The Prevention of Academic Learning Problems. Columbus, OH: Merrill Pub., 1990.
One hundred years ago, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a young man developing new insights about learning. He was one of a handful of constructivist-minded writers and educational theorists of the time. Learning theories open educators up to new ideas. They are necessary to expand our knowledge of how learning works. Piaget’s work is a well-tested and educators around the world should be aware of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development in particular because it will improve the quality of their teaching. Once a teacher knows this theory, they can plan lessons appropriate to their students’ cognitive ability and build upon students’ earlier knowledge in a constructivist way.