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Constructivism: A Methodical Learning Approach

Research and Prepared by

Rajeev Ranjan

Principal

B.Ed(English)

Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching English (PGDTE),

English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad

&

BA & MA (English),

Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Email .Id: rajeevbhuvns@gmail.com

Constructivism is a valid teaching strategy that employs five basic “Es” that is ‘engagement’, ‘exploration’, ‘explanation’, ‘elaboration’, and ‘evaluation’. Educators prime duty to facilitate learning opportunities for students. In fact, a great facilitator who handles the 21st century global learners should be wise enough to facilitates learning in the class considering the pressure of 21st century learner’s smartness, who operates very sophisticated software and apps but least interested in classroom learning.

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Constructivism: A Methodical Learning Approach Constructivism is a learning strategy that builds upon students' existing knowledge, beliefs, and skills (Brooks and Brooks, 1993). Learners are considered to be active organisms seeking meaning. It is believed that when student encounter new information, s/he works to amalgamate new understanding based on their previous knowledge and current understanding. Even Eisenkraft(2003) states that “learners of all ages build new ideas on top of their personal conceptual understandings. Learners construct meaning while continually assessing their understandings of concepts”. It is well known fact that students learn best when they gain knowledge through exploration and active learning. It is common phenomenon that students and adults are enabled to construct a deeper and more comprehensive understanding through activities that match their cognitive capabilities. In fact, each individual is unique. S/he builds a new concept on previous learning and to apply new learning in a meaningful context. The constructivist teacher sets up problems and monitors student exploration, guides student inquiry, and promotes critical thinking. According to Tennyson & Schott in this theory, knowledge does not exist outside of the person but is constructed based on how a person interacts with the environment and experiences the world. This theory became popular in 1980s. It would be better to discuss that constructivism explains following key concepts:-

I. How we know what we know II. Students' active participation in problem-solving and critical thinking III. Students learn best by interacting with the presence of others IV. Activity that encourage the learning V. All learning is context dependent. VI. Emphasizes the synthesis and integration of knowledge and skills into an

individual's experiences

Pioneers of Constructivism and their contribution to strengthen this philosophy of learning are well –noted and it ensures outcomes of holistic learning at school or college. They ensure accountability of an individual, previous learning, and his /her current knowledge play pivotal role in learning a new concept. Role of facilitator is to shape learner to become an independent thinker, who can see the world in his own eyes. Russian psychologist Piaget believes that all knowledge is a human construction. Further, he added a learner starts learning with a blank slate. Even Dewey smartly emphasises that education’s connection with society, outside world and life so what we learn should have meaningful relevancy as well as it revolves around the children’s experiences. In fact, other educationist Bruner states that pupil constructs new ideas and concepts based upon their current as well as past knowledge. Learning should be promoted through instilling discovery zeal in students’ mind. He believes that learning should be

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reflected at each stage of child’s development, by proper interaction with environment. Every great thinker of constructivism learning shared his views that knowledge is constructed from experience. Learner’s own perception and personal interpretation of the world constitutes the learning. Learning is an active process so conceptual growth of a learner originates on the basis of experience and negotiation of meaning with multiple perspectives and collaborative approach. He was in favour to set realistic target and emphasized that learning should be situated in realistic setting; testing should be integrated with the task and not a separate activity. Vygotsky proposes three learning theory which supports the concept of constructivism. First he assumes that the community plays great role and people around the pupil affect the way s/he sees the world, second culture, language determines the pattern and rate of development and last the concept of proximal development or problem solving task that can be performed independently by the learner and also with other. Another constructivist, Seymour Papert proposes that the building of knowledge is our prime goal. We should decrease amount of teaching in the class because it makes a classroom teaching one way so teacher should introduce project based learning where learners get time to express his own with the help of surrounding factors. Seymour prime concern was mathematics. He developed art of learning for mathematics. He designed a guideline for the art of learning and focuses that ‘give yourself time’, second ‘discuss it properly’, and third ‘look for connections’. Undoubtedly this concept gives ample space for the learner to discover the learning.

Guiding principles of constructivism

The Physics Education Research Group at University of Massachusetts defines the premises of constructivism as epistemology as follows:

1. Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted. 2. Prior knowledge impacts the learning process. 3. Initial understanding is local, not global. 4. Building useful knowledge structures requires effortful and purposeful

activity

One of the major educationists (Tobin and Tippin, 1993) discusses some of common and special features of Constructivism Pedagogical theory. These codes of belief demonstrate basic nature of learning. We should learn the way pupil learn the things, i.e. ‘how they learn’ ,‘thinking process’ and other stake holders that effects and maximize the probability of learning in real life situation. According to Tobin and Tippin illustrate following essential points of learning:

1. Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning must start with the issues around which students are actively trying to construct meaning.

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2. Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts.

3. In order to teach well, we must understand the mental models that students use to perceive the world and the assumptions they make to support those models.

4. The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the "right" answers and regurgitate someone else's meaning. Since education is inherently interdisciplinary, the only valuable way to measure learning is to make the assessment part of the learning process, ensuring it provides students with information on the quality of their learning.

In fact, if a facilitator develops the essential facts of learning and its stakeholder surely he facilitates learning without creating threatening environment among learners. Constructivism defines learning in terms of constructing meaningful context for the learners so that they build knowledge on basis of existing knowledge and constructing a new belief to design a new learning with the effect of surrounding.

Types of Constructivism:

Theory is an outline perspective of a thinker who develops a philosophy which benefits the society and universal forever however course of time. Different thinker added or deleted something and contributed to strengthen the constructive approach of learning. More or less they reflect the beauty of constructivism. Basically, two types of learning belong to constructivism theory.

1. Cognitive Constructivism: It focuses on the individual characteristics or attributes of the learner and their impact of learning. Piaget (1985) proposed that knowledge cannot be simply transmitted to a person but must be constructed through experience. He believes that learning is based on interaction with surroundings, so real world practice is important to encourage learning.

2. Social Constructivism: It focuses on how meaning and understanding are created through social interaction. It emphasizes the social nature of learning. Lev. Vygtosky (1978) proposed that learning could not be separated from the social context in which it occurs, nor could accommodation and assimilation occur without the active integration of the learner in a community of practice. He saw learning as a collaborative process, and he developed a theory called the zone of proximal development (ZPD) to explain the collaborative nature of learning (Vygotsky, 1978). He argues that with the help of peers or facilitators learners can understand concepts and ideas in a better way which they could not understand with their own.

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More people more interpretation of a theory or philosophy, however (Bybee, 2006) developed an approach of learning and characterized ‘Constructivism’ learning approach as the 5Es phases. These are as follows:

1. The Engagement Phase 2. The Exploration Phase 3. The Explanation Phase 4. The Elaboration Phase 5. The Evaluation Phase

The Engagement Phase One of the famous educationists of 21st century had proposed the idea that students learn by doing and that learning is the responsibility of the learner (Dewey, 1902). Basic concept of Constructivism usually begins with the engagement phase. First we motivate or prepare learner to receive the given information. An activity of engagement should help the learner to make connections between past and present learning experiences. Constructivism may be defined as an active process of learning in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current and past knowledge (Bruner, 1960). In addition to support constructivist education, Dewey believes that experience has great values in learning, it will be better to quote him “the development of experience and into experience that is really wanted" (Dewey, 1902, p. 24). Whereas, Yager emphasizes that constructivism builds on prior knowledge and gives students and instructors an opportunity to make sense of the world by engaging them in exploratory investigations (Yager, 1991). Therefore, Duffy’s proposal has great meaning that the engagement phase should activate the critical thinking processes by integrating authentic activities that involve real world topics (Duffy and Jonassen, 1992). Facilitator can use this phase by introducing, role model, elicitation, anecdote in the classroom. The Exploration Phase The exploration phase provides students with a common base of experiences. The purpose of this approach is to allow the students to explore meaningful science topics set in the context of something they enjoy doing. As students explore concepts, they develop a broader understanding of those concepts. In fact, sharing within cooperative groups is a fundamental strategy in constructivism as it allows the teacher to facilitate the learning process. The learners identify and develop concepts, processes, and skills based on an open-ended approach in which students actively explore their environment or manipulate materials. In the classroom, constructivist curriculum must be designed so that it reflects real life situations (Bentley, 1995). Jerome Bruner further emphasizes this point by writing, "Students should know what it feels like to be completely absorbed in a problem. They seldom experience this feeling in school" (Bruner, 1960. p.50).

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Students exploring a concept should be given opportunities to work with materials so that they can have experiences that are real and primary. Hands-on learning plays a valuable role in the constructivist paradigm, as it is the process of experiencing learning. It is important to engage students in learning situations that effectively integrate their own experiences and familiar materials that they can use to understand specific concepts better. For example: Students who enjoy skate boarding can be given opportunities to explore the concepts of velocity, acceleration, centre of gravity, and centrifugal and centripetal forces. As students explore concepts, they develop a broader understanding of those concepts. When they relate what they are learning, seeing or doing to others, they can begin to see similarities in their understandings with others, as well as to self-identify misconceptions they may have about content material. “Problem-solving strategies depend on conceptual understandings, and hands-on exploration of simple topics combined with collaborative interaction among students helps to build an understanding of processes and concepts” (Apple, 1993). The Explanation Phase The explanation phase helps students to analyze and synthesize the content in its full length. Students become active learners channelize their conceptual understanding to demonstrate new skills. Teachers introduce formal terms, definitions, and other content information to explain the subject. The implementation of this phase provides the learner with opportunities to identify skills and behaviour in order to both experience and discover content that may be useful in context. In constructivist terms, content delivery should focus on primary sources and materials in which content knowledge is applied and integrated. Sources can include textbooks, the Internet, mentors, film, lectures, or publications. Students should be directed to utilize the information they gather and encounter in ways that encourage them to analyze and synthesize. Students encounter and interaction with the content, promote higher order thinking skills, including problem solving. In fact, Meaning is a human construction interacting with a social situation; we are defining it for ourselves. Yet, one must beware of regarding the learner’s point of view "as something finally significant in themselves" (Dewey, 1902, p.20). Each learner understands content and concepts differently based on their previous experiences. Learning requires students to arrive at new ways of understanding. Rutherford and Alhgren rightly stated that “Students come to school with their own ideas, some correct and some not, about almost every topic they are likely to encounter" (Rutherford and Alhgren, 1990, p. 198). Students need to develop new views and make better sense of their world. If learning is the responsibility of the learner, it

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is also critical that the teacher guide the learning process with content materials and classroom experiences. In describing and explaining ideas to others, the learner synthesizes material in a way that requires higher-order thinking. In constructivist terms, He explained content in context after His students had previously searched for meaning within it themselves. The Elaboration Phase The learning should move from insight to action, from content to concept, from a static situation to intense problem-solving, cooperative learning and critical thinking. Learners should be given opportunities to practice and refine their skills and behaviour in authentic contexts. Students gets multiple opportunities in order to deepen and broaden their knowledge base and integrate that knowledge into their conceptual understandings and actions, both inside and outside of the classroom. Issues can be looked from multiple perspectives and cultural viewpoints. The essence of constructivism theory is to build on previous learning and to apply new learning in a meaningful context. Bossert quotes “the teacher should actively promote and encourage positive group interactions and cooperative behaviours that foster the types of thinking interactions that enhance the learning process (Bossert, 1989). The Evaluation Phase Evaluation process helps a facilitator to clarify and understand the level of knowledge that a learner has obtained. Evaluation process ranges from the simple to the complex, from a teacher's observations of students in class to an all types of standardized test. The evaluation phase provides opportunities for teacher and requires learners to assess their:-

Own understanding and abilities based on projects, discussions and interactions with others (peers, teachers, parents) them and feedback from the teacher and integrate feedback from colleagues and others in order to identify the areas that needed to be strengthened and refined within their knowledge base.

Provides opportunities for the teacher to evaluate students’ performance of new knowledge integration through presentations or demonstrations.

Allows the teacher to evaluate students' understanding of key concepts and skill development.

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Comparative Study

This comparative study of two different approach of learning designed by famous educationist Coghlan gives us concrete insight of teaching-learning process and the changes of approach taken since 1970s. For example, Coghlan (2002) differentiates two approaches as follows:

Traditional (Instructivist)

Constructivist

Teacher driven Student driven

Solo Collaborative

Summative assessment Formative assessment

Teachers ‘give’ knowledge Students build (construct) knowledge

Teacher is expert Students’ knowledge is valid starting point

‘Regurgitation’ of information; memorization

Analysis, exploration, synthesis of information (higher order thinking skills)

Content based Process based

Passive Active

Clear end point Ongoing

Work by Michael Coghlan (WebCT Asia Pacific Conference, March 25 – 27 2002).

We can find out that constructivist is a student centered approach. It focuses on collaborative learning. School and facilitators designs formative assessment to check the authenticity of learning process and provides opportunity for the learners to learn from their mistakes and construct knowledge that will be valid from starting point. Traditional approach emphasises on momerorization of information but constructivist believes in developing higher order thinking skill through analysis, exploration and synthesizing information. Learners are active stakeholder of this process of learning. Role of Constructivist Facilitator Teaching learning process has felt a great change and it started shifting the approach from teacher centered to learner centered. Behaviourist was least bothered about individual’s thinking process. Behaviourist gave importance of repetition and drilling things rather developing method “how and why”. The Cognitive educationists were starting bothering that human should be treated like human being. Human beings differ to other stakeholders of the universe on only and only by “thinking process and uniqueness of an individual”. Therefore,

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Bybee states that teacher should set up problems and monitors student exploration, guides student inquiry, and promotes critical thinking inside and outside the classroom. Constructivist teachers ask students to explore concepts with their own data and to learn to direct their own explanations (Bybee, 2006). If we go 15 years back to Bybee from 2006 to 1982 when Hofstein and Yager designed a belief that “in the constructivist classroom, the teacher utilizes questions in response to student ideas in order to uncover their fundamental understandings of topics”. This instructional strategy forms the foundation for an inquiry-based classroom, one that is built on open-ended questions that reflect the learner's reality (Hofstein and Yager, 1982). It is the student’s inquisitive nature that needs to be activated and enhanced. Yet, without a process model with which to show and lead the learner, this may not be achieved. In this way, learning is not prescribed, but explored, and the learner has an active participation in the learning process. No learning theory is complete enough that correction will not be possible. With the time reference moderation of a theory is a part of growth and understanding of concepts. So I would like to restates the concept of constructivism learning by stating some of great educational philosophers, psychologists’ ways of learning. 1. Meanings are assigned by students when they learn something, and in order

to be effective, "any curriculum of a new education would have to be centered on question asking" (Postman and Weingartner, 1969, p. 81). Students are meaning makers, and classroom facilitators have to contribute to developing understanding in a conceptually correct manner for the learner.

2. Currently, an instructor who facilitates through questioning impacts learning

best within a structured discussion that raises basic issues, probes beneath surface meanings and pursues problematic areas of thought (Paul and Binker, 1990). This technique aids students in discovering their own thought structure and helps them develop clarity, accuracy, and relevance in their thinking.

3. Learners search for evidence and reason, recognize and reflect upon assumptions, discover implications and consequences, and extrapolate from what is really known versus merely believed (Roth, 1989).

4. The teacher is not only a communicator, but a model. “To communicate knowledge and to provide a model of competence, the teacher must be free to teach and to learn" (Bruner, 1960, p. 90).

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Conclusion A basic understanding of learning theory is an important foundation to teaching. Learning is a complex process involving mental processes that are influenced by emotional and environmental factors that can support or hinder learning. Learning theories have evolved that take into consideration these complexes factors in an effort to explain how learning occurs and prescribe instructional strategies to facilitate learning. First and foremost, constructivism is a valid teaching strategy that employs five basics that is ‘engagement’, ‘exploration’, ‘explanation’, ‘elaboration’, and ‘evaluation’. Educators prime duty to facilitate learning opportunities for students. The main premise of this approach is that learners need to take responsibility for their learning and that they learn by being involved in active strategies that require them to solve problem and think critically. In order to guide learners to advancement in critical thinking concerning given concepts or topics, the educator facilitates the learning process, and the constructivist method with its 5Es becomes an organizational pathway for curriculum development and delivery.

1. The tasks that learners perform need to be organized from:- A. To the most fundamental to the most complex concepts B. To create new schemas for understanding C. To tie directly to real world circumstances.

So a great facilitator who handles the 21st century global learners should be wise enough to facilitates learning in the class considering the pressure of 21st century learner’s smartness who operates very sophisticated software and apps but least interested in classroom. Educationists need to take care of global learners smartly. In fact, the learning emphasizes the need to question the answers, not answer the questions. We should show our respect towards learning habits of our learners. As facilitator of learning we should keep the quotes of Gould that “teachers who effectively model questioning strategies in a constructivist framework show that students’ ideas are respected and valued (Gould, 2000).” By: Rajeev Ranjan

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References:

Robertson: The Greatest Constructivist Educator Ever Greatest Constructivist Educator 2 Christian Perspectives in Education, Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring 2008, Published by DigitalCommons@Liberty University, 2008 Apple, M.W. (1993). Official knowledge. New York: Routledge. Christian Perspectives in Education, Vol. 1, Iss. 2 [2008], Art. 5 http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cpe/vol1/iss2/5 (Learning Theory in the book, Effective Online Teaching: Foundations and Strategies for Student Success, by Tina Stavredes. Published by Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint. 989 Market Street). Bybee, R. W. et al (2006). The BSCS 5e instructional model: Origins, effectiveness, and applications (Executive Summary). Online: http://www.bscs.org/pdf/bscs5eexecsummary.pdf Hoehn, R. G. (1990). Encouraging your students to think, Science Activities, 27(2): 8-11. Hofstein, A. and Yager, R. (1982). Societal issues as organizers for science education in the 80s, Postman, N. and Weingartner, C. (1969). Teaching as a Subversive Activity, New York: Delta Press. Bossert, S. (1989). Cooperative Activities in the Classroom, Review of research in education, 15: 225- 250. Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Dewey, J. (1902). The Child and the Curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Duffy, T.M. and Jonassen, D.H. (1992). Constructivism and the Technology of Instruction: A conversation, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Eisenkraft, A. (2003). Expanding the 5E model. The science teacher, 70(6): 57-59. Gould, S. J. (2000). Deconstructing the "science wars" by reconstructing an old mold. Science, 287: 253-261. Huitt, W. (1998). Critical thinking. http://www.valdosta.peachnet.edu/~whuitt/psy702/cogsys/critthnk.html Marx, R. W. and Walsh J. (1988). Learning from academic tasks, The Elementary School Journal, 88(3): 207-219. Yager, R. E. (1991). The constructivist learning model: Towards real reform in science education, The Science Teacher, 58(6): 52-57. National Science Teacher Association (NSTA), Arlington, VA. Enhancing Education Website: http://enhancinged.wgbh.org/research/eeeee.html. Paul, R., and Binker, A. J. A. (1990). What every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world. Center for critical thinking and moral critique, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA. Rutherford, J. and Ahlgren, A. (1990). Science for all Americans, New York: Oxford University Press. Web links: http://dougiamas.com/writing/constructivism.html http://www.csus.edu/indiv/m/masuyama/technology/sensei_online/01_twotheories.htm http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc/constructivism.html

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Constructivismhttp://www.worc.ac.uk/LTMain/LTC/StaffD

ev/Constructivism/.

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http://www.ed.sc.edu/caw/webbarton.htm Professor Cheryl A. Wissick’s site introduces teachers, briefly, to example philosophies and opinions regarding constructivism vs Instructivism Title: Principle of Instructional Technology: Theories/Models of Learning http://susanlucas.com/it/ail601/learning.html Description: Dr. Susan Lucas’s site that describe major theories on instructional technology. Excellent summaries. “Cognitive Versus Behavioural Psychology http://www.udel.edu/fth/pbs/webmodel.htm Description: Professor Fred T. Hofstetter’s article that presents a chat to contrast two approaches