Workshop:"Constructivism as a Paradigm for teaching and Learning"
Constructivism is a theory that is based on observation and scientific study on how people learn. The main idea of this theory is that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through their experiences and by reflecting on those experiences. When you learn something that is new you think about what you already know and then decide if you are going to believe this new concept or not. In other words people decide for themselves and are the creators of their own knowledge. A constructivist teacher will encourage students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then reflect on them. Dr. Christie used a very simple active technique yesterday with an ice-breaker activity that allowed students to create their own knowledge. We were given an assignment with limited supplies and a short amount of time and were expected to come up with a quality product. It allowed us be creative, actively involved, to take risks and learn from each other and I think that is what constructivism is all about.
This article was very interesting and I think that I do use some of the constructive techniques that were mentioned and would like to use more of them. However, one of things that I kept thinking about as I read the differences between a traditional and constructivist classroom was how to use this theory in the classroom when your school has a strict curriculum and everything seems to be about how we perform on the state test and not really what or how students are learning. I am not in a regular classroom anymore but I remember being very frustrated that I had to stick to the reading curriculum exactly and had to be on a certain chapter by a certain date and had to have exactly two hours of Language Arts. Although, I think this is a great theory and is a great way to teach and learn I think it might difficult to incorporate in your classroom all the time with the way that standardized testing and strict curriculum's are now a part of the school system.
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2 comments:
After 18 years of teaching, I agree with you about the issues about following the curriculum. It takes a lot more time to prepare a lesson that has relevance, but it can be done. Unfortunately, over the years, I have also seen the demands being placed on teachers increase with little impact on pay. The payoff truly comes in benefit to the students. I've found that the more engaging the lesson the less issues with class management, so that is also another real bonus.
Planning engaging lessons are more time consuming, but effective. The effort pays off in the long run because learning and classroom management benefits.
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