Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Constructivism theory in education
Constructivism theory in education
Constructivism theory in education
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Constructivism theory in education
View of Learning
Considering a range of learning theories and how they impact on decisions made about teaching supports educators in developing their own beliefs about learning. This essay briefly investigates Behavioural learning theories, constructivism and the humanistic theories of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. It compares and contrasts these theories in regards to locus of control and motivation. In Part B a personal learning event is reflected on, referring to constructivist approaches in the assistance given.
Part A : Learning Theories
Behavioural learning theorists view learning as an observable change in behaviour and learned responses to stimuli. (Bochner, Duchesne,Krause, & McMaugh, 2013) Positive reinforcement is used to
…show more content…
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) proposed that cognitive development and human behaviours are motivated the need to have needs met. He introduced a hierarchical model of human needs with basic survival needs at the bottom and included emotional needs. If these basic needs are first met then people are more able to work towards self-esteem and cognitive development. Carl Rogers (1902-1987) ideas about education included the need for a nurturing environment that encouraged children’s social and emotional development as well as cognitive development. Recognising the importance of ensuring children’s basic physical and emotional needs being met has implications for practice in education practices. Humanistic theories of education recognise the importance of assisting children to develop skills to regulate their own learning, problem solving and creative thinking. (Duschesne et …show more content…
Constructivist theorists point to the educator as being a facilitator and guide to assisting children to construct new understandings linked to prior knowledge. Carl Rogers humanistic approach contends that self-initiated learning that is relevant to the individual will be the longest lasting. The role of the teacher includes actively listening to students and being available as a resource for students .(Rogers ,1969)
Behavioural views focus on extrinsic motivation in learning where constructivist theorists suggest motivation comes from the intrinsic sense of achievement through successfully completing tasks . Humanists theorise that motivation is based on the urge to satisfy basic needs and growth as people mature. (Duchesne et al. 2013)
Humanistic theories of education with its focus on self evaluation and reflection can present difficulties is showing assessable results that society expects from modern schools ( Porter,2000) Behavioural methods of viewing learning as observable changes in behaviour allows for clear expectations and assessable outcomes. Constructivism directs educators to observing and reflecting on children’s current understandings and incremental
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.
Educators produce a wide variety of experiences, perceptions, prospects, learning and abilities to their education (DEEWR, 2009, p. 9). In my career and through my studies, my philosophy and pedagogy have been closely linked with the constructivist theory from Piaget. Being able to focus on a child’s interests and creating learning activities that are implemented as fun is a big part of my motivation as an educator and teacher. The educational environment needs to sustain every single child along with inspiring significant work that can result in more advanced thinking (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 225). Following Piaget’s ideas while implementing the EYLF has made for a simple straight forward way of supplying quality learning experiences for children from birth to 12 years old and it has helped me widen the scope of each experience to allow for multiple levels of developmental stages. Using a constructivist approach to learning allows for the breaking down of the experience as a whole into smaller parts which brings the focus around to the process of learning (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 667). Overall I believe Piaget’s Theory to be one of the most important influences in modern teaching, allowing scaffolding of learning in a place that that
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, ...
Powell, K. Kalina, C. (2009). Cognitive and Social Constructivism: Developing Tools for an Effective Classroom. Education, 130(2), 241-250. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb?did=1937522441&Fmt=7&clientId=22212&RQT=309&VName=PQD. (Document ID: 1937522441).
The most outspoken pioneer of a constructivist approach to teaching has been Ernst von Glasersfeld, whose ‘radical constructivism’ still is at the center of the debate. Elaborating on the works of Jean Piaget, von Glasersfeld has particularly focussed on individual self-regulation and the building of conceptual structures through reflection and abstraction. According to von Glasersfeld, ‘authentic’ learning depends on seeing a problem as ‘one’s own problem’, as an obstacle that obstructs one’s progress toward a goal. The farthest removed from this individualistic focus seems to be the sociocultural approach that originated with Ljev Vygotskij in Russia.
This practise of effective teaching and learning has relatively new in classrooms but has already made a great difference in the students’ abilities and interests both in and out of their studies. Constructivist teaching recognises and validates the student’s point of view rather then the necessity of a correct answer. The child is then able to reassess their knowledge and understandings, which in turn boosts self-esteem and confidence. It also encourages children to be involved in classroom activities by self-questioning, seeking answers, comparing situations and establishing links between different ideas. This is possible as constructive learning is transferable between different ideas. (Tutorial Notes, 28th July, 2004)
In Maslow’s theory, the needs of belongingness, esteem and self-actualization are placed in higher hierarchies of physiological as well as safety needs. In other words, only when people’s basic needs and safety are ensured, will they begin to pursue higher level of needs. Whereas, it is not exactly true. The theory can not apply to the starved poets, the eremites who cut off the contact with society or the mountaineers caring less about security on his way to reach the top (Kremer and Hammond, 2013). All those people can be idealists that disregard physiological and safety needs but care more about self-actualization. It can be seen that people’s needs vary from person to person. Therefore, there is no doubt that Maslow’s theory is proved to be wrong. Also, it is evident that all the human needs are equal. Even if the individuals’ physiological and safety needs are not fulfilled, they still have the strong desire to be loved, receive respect and achieve their life objectives. Tay and Diener (2011) pointed out that whether other needs were satisfied had slight effect on the relevance of subjective well-being (SWB) with the fulfillment of particular needs. To be more specific, in the workplaces, employees work not only for salary to ensure their physiological and safety needs, but also for life evaluation at the same time. If
Constructivism theorists believe that learning is an ongoing collective application of knowledge where past knowledge and hands on experience meet. This theory also believes that students are naturally curious. If students are naturally curious, their curio...
since the existence of the mind could not be proven from the observation of behavior,
In a social constructivist view on learning the brain is a complex, flexible, ever changing organism that reshapes itself in response to challenge (Abbott & Ryan, 2001). Constructivism view is that knowledge is obtained and understood through a student’s mental framework (Abbott & Ryan, 2001). Learning is not a passive process but it is a deliberate and progressive process that deepens meaning (Abbott & Ryan, 2001). The student does not only reply on a teachers lectures but also on their interactions with the environment around them (Abbott & Ryan, 2001). In this view it is important that the teacher sees the student as the centre of teaching endeavours, by assisting them to obtain information they can integrate into their already known knowledge. There are many ways that a teacher can assist their students, one example is Scaffolding. Scaffolding is where a teacher provides students with just enough help in order to complete the tasks themselves, then over time decreasing the amount of help so that a student can master this themselves.
Among many teaching styles and learning theories, there is one that is becoming more popular, the constructivist theory. The constructivist theory focuses on the way a person learns, a constructivist believes that the person will learn better when he/she is actively engaged. The person acts or views objects and events in their environment, in the process, this person then understands and learns from the object or events(P. Johnson, 2004). When we encounter a certain experience in our life, we think back to other things that have occurred in our life and use that to tackle this experience. In a lot of cases, we are creators of our own knowledge. In a classroom, the constructivist theory encourages more hands-on assignments or real-world situations, such as, experiments in science and math real-world problem solving. A constructivist teacher constantly checks up on the student, asking them to reflect what they are learning from this activity. The teacher should be keeping track on how they approached similar situations and help them build on that. The students can actually learning how to learn in a well-planned classroom. Many people look at this learning style as a spiral, the student is constantly learning from each new experience and their ideas become more complex and develop stronger abilities to integrate this information(P. Johnson, 2004). An example of a constructivist classroom would be, the student is in science class and everyone is asking questions, although the teacher knows the answer, instead of just giving it to them, she attempts to get the students to think through their knowledge and try to come up with a logical answer. A problem with this method of learning is that people believe that it is excusing the role of...
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.
We must first look at the need for a constructivist approach in a classroom, to do this we think back to our days in primary school and indeed secondary school where textbooks we like bibles. We were told to take out our books, look at the board, and now complete the exercise on page z. This approach in a class is repetitive, the teacher holds authoritarian power and learning is by no means interactive. “In a traditional classroom, an invisible and imposing, at times, impenetrable, barrier between student and teacher exists through power and practice. In a constructivist classroom, by contrast, the teacher and the student share responsibility and decision making and demonstrate mutual respect.” (Wineburg, 2001) This approach focuses on basic skills and strict adherence to the curriculum. Children are being forced to learn through repetit...
Constructivist theory and independent learning. The constructivistic learning approach involves educators building school curriculum around the experience of their students. Constructivists believe learner-centric instructional classroom methods will strengthen the commitment and involvement of self-motivated learners because of their high level of interaction. Today, there is a trend for incorporating technology into the classrooms to support instructional learning methods. Yet, recent studies have revealed technology is not effectively integrated with the concepts of constructivism
In the study of child development, nature and nurture are two essential concepts that immensely influence future abilities and characteristics of developing children. Nature refers to the genetically obtained characteristics and abilities that influence development while nurture refers to the surrounding environmental conditions that influence development. Without one or the other, a child may not develop some important skills, such as communication and walking. The roles of physiological and psychological needs in a person’s life are also crucial for developing children. Humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that humans don’t only aim towards survival, but also aim towards self-actualization (Rathus, P. 94).