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Jennifer Arias
Edu 120
Ch.5 Theories Applied to Teaching and Learning
What does active learning mean? Cite examples from your own
experience.
Morrison defines learning as cognitive and behavior changes that
result from
experience. (128) Constructivism further adds that learning
requires that children take an
active role in developing their understanding and learning, and
assumes that they actively seek
knowledge. Active learning is a basic part of constructivist
theory (129). Children engage in
active learning when they construct knowledge through physical
and mental activity by
engaging in problem setting and problem solving. Basically
active learning means that children
initiate their own learning by taking a leading role in what
they experience, both mentally and
physically.
One example of active learning from my past was when I learned
to swim. I had tried to
swim before but was too young to do so without floating devices,
until one day when I was
about 6, I just felt ready. I had seen how people swim but had
never tried it for myself. So,
much to my mothers surprise, I just took off my floatie and
jumped into the pool. I then started
to move my arms and floated to the surface. I was greeted by a
very concerned parent who was
happy to see that I was ok. After that I experimented with
different strokes and forms of
swimming and it is something I love to do! I only learned
because I wanted to and tried for
myself!
A more recent example of active learning from my own life is how
I learned to cook
white rice. Since I am Colombian my family grew up eating white
jasmine rice, and watching my
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parents make it. One day when I was in middle school, my father
asked me to make some on
my own. I was given detailed instructions and watched closely,
and the rice turned out
decently. On a different day I tried to make rice again but this
time the results were a bit
disappointing, I added too much water and the rice was bit too
squishyalthough I was
discouraged I really wanted to learn how to make rice so I tried
again- this time keeping a close
watch as I prepared the rice. I was delighted when the rice
turned out perfectly cooked and
delicious! I realized cooking is not something someone can
simply tell you how to do, but it is
something that you must actually want to do and do on your own-
or else risk potentially
devastating recipe disasters!
Create (draw/sketch) a floor plan of a classroom which embodies
a constructivist approach.
Explain how/why this plan represents a constructivist
approach.
At the core of constructivism is the belief that children
literally construct their
knowledge of the world through different experiences. (128) A
constructivist classroom should
accordingly be set up such that the child is the center of the
teaching and learning, and so that
they are free to initiate activity and interactions with peers,
teachers, and materials.
The classroom I would want would be centered around the
students, first by having
students sit at large round tables so that assignments can be
done collaboratively and so that
students are more free to engage in peer interaction and
different assignments (including,
writing, reading, art.) In addition to collaborative desks there
will also be different stations
where children can engage in a variety of activities (helping to
prepare snacks in the snack
corner, caring for plants or fish in the life corner, reading
together or alone in the reading
corner, or role playing with others in the toy corner. In the
center of the classroom will be an
