Some thoughts on constructivism

Hi everyone,

I think that the constructivist theory is probably one I draw on a great deal in my teaching practices. It might be related to my preferred learning styles—NF and NT. I love creative activities and activities where I can solve problems. I find that when I can dive in and explore a topic, and play with it—testing ideas, verifying them—I’m making meaningful connections—and I remember what I’ve learned. I see the constructivist theory as providing a chance for more authentic, real world contexts for activities. If one can see a real world application, it is typically more meaningful, even for very abstract concepts.

When I was learning trigonometry, there was little opportunity to do more than memorize the formulas. I recall having difficulty although I love math---because I didn’t see a real world connection for the concepts—and so it was hard for me to make sense of what I was learning. I wish there had been an opportunity to apply these concepts in some way that made sense to me.

I find that typically projects are very helpful learning experiences. For one, they work well in collaborative contexts—and each learning style can usually find a task that he/she is attracted to. Second, there is an opportunity to learn to problem solve as a group—a very valuable skill. Students have models of other learning styles and approaches in their peers—they have a chance to see what works for other people—and to expand their own strategies. Finally, there is a finished product—something a student can take away and take pride in.

Looking forward to others’ thoughts.

Virtual Field Trips and Concept Maps

Hello everyone,

(Taking a break from some badly needed spring cleaning to share my thoughts on this week’s topic.)

Concept Maps and Virtual Field Trips

I find that concept maps can be great tools to help one organize their ideas and see relationships between larger, overarching concepts and supporting details. Sometimes this can be a really helpful tool in making sense of a content area. That is, a student can see how the declarative knowledge fits together; this can be helpful in their seeing a “big picture”—in generating a conceptual framework for the content. The concept map can help students organize their schemas for a content area--to help them make a mental map for the concepts.

As an example, suppose someone wanted to learn about the Revolutionary War. A concept map might allow them to see all of the contributing factors—to see how they connect. This can help students see cause/effect relationships—it can help them organize a writing piece based on the organization of the map.

Virtual Field trips can be a nice opportunity for students to learn more about a content area in the context of a more multi-media experience. Some field trips can be very interactive—something I always appreciate—as students take on a more active role—something that generally promotes engagement. I used to enjoy browsing the Met museum with my sons when they were very young. There was a feature they really liked---you could click on a piece of art and save it to your own folder or area. They enjoyed being able to pick out art they would “keep.” Then, when we went to the actual building, they were especially excited to see if they could find their favorite art pieces to look at in person. A multi-media connection can be very helpful in students' successfully encoding information--they are more attentive and more likely to retain the information.

Note taking

I wanted to mention one interesting issue I often see with note taking. Often I'll see a student write everything that is said, regardless of its importance--and they expend so much effort on this, I worry that they are not actually processing the information. I see the same with highlighting--students will highlight an entire chapter--something which defeats the purpose of the highlighting. I find that taking effective notes is a skill that needs to be developed. I sometimes like to give students a skeleton upon which to work in terms of note-taking. I also like to guide them in what they might want to take down in their notes.

Technology provides some excellent tools for note-taking. The copy and paste feature makes it easy for students to identify important facts in online information and copy them to a document for later review.


Looking forward to reading others' thoughts on this week's topic.

Behaviorism and Technology

Hello everyone,
I thought I'd share some thoughts about this week's blog topic.

I do see a role for a behaviorist approach in learning---although I think it is important to keep in mind that it plays a part in instruction but shouldn't dominate the approaches we take. For so many content areas, in order to achieve mastery and be able to understand information at the higher levels, it is important to have a basic skill set. What comes to mind immediately are the areas of mathematics and reading. In order to be able to read fluently, one should have achieved automaticity in certain skill areas (sound-letter correspondence; basic computational facts in the case of math.) Without these skills in place, a student is likely to struggle in these areas because they're going to have to expend cognitive energy on what should be automatic--taking it away from the higher order functions. For example, a student may have increased difficulty working on ratios if they cannot multiple simply numbers effortlessly.

Learning these skills does not have to be dull for students, however. I think with careful planning, skill development can be incorporated into interesting activities that also tap into higher order thinking skills. Additionally, activities that include skill development can be planned so that students see its function in an authentic context--they see how these skills fit into the bigger picture.

I find technology to be a wonderful tool for helping students develop basic skills. Games are one example of this. An engaging, well-planned game that helps students develop skills may be a valuable instructional tool. Games may include drill and practice activities that then lead to higher order thinking tasks within the game. They also keep the practice component from becoming dull for students.

Skill development activities completed as homework ideally should appeal to a broad base of learning styles, and that the same planning we put into lessons (the same best practices) should apply to homework. Connecting it to a real world context--including opportunities to be creative, to think at the higher levels--to play an active role in the activity--can be part of a skill development activity. Possibilities for collaboration might be considered and planned for. The problem with a dull worksheet as homework is that I find that the students who carefully complete it are the ones who least require the help--those who most need the practice seem to avoid it. Technology may prove helpful in creating homework experiences that facilitate skill development but remain engaging (in cases where students do have access.)

I look forward to reading others' thoughts on this.

----Susan