CONSTRUCTIVISM

 

CONSTRUCTIVISM

                  Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on observation and scientific study – about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know. In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.

          Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom environment, the students learn HOW TO LEARN.

             Constructivism is an epistemological view of knowledge acquisition which emphasize on the active role of the learners in the construction of knowledge and interpretation of reality. This paper describes about the constructivist teaching learning process on the way to construction of understanding. It demonstrates how learners construct their own knowledge and making sense of information in a constructivist classroom. It also pays focus on the importance of constructivist teaching methods and the teaching–learning environment of constructivist classroom with the changing roles of students and teachers in the class room.

• Constructivism says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

• When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant.

Ø In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge.

Ø To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know.

Implications to curriculum and pedagogy

       In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experiences in terms of the educator's or school's instructional goals.

        Pedagogy (most commonly understood as the approach to teaching) refers more broadly to the theory and practice of education, and how this influences the growth of learners. Pedagogy, taken as an academic discipline, is the study of how knowledge and skills are exchanged in an educational context, and it considers the interactions that take place during learning. Pedagogies vary greatly, as they reflect the different social, political, cultural contexts from which they emerge. Pedagogy is the act of teaching. Theories of pedagogy increasingly identify the student as an agent, and the teacher as a facilitator.

The curriculum should be planned in such a manner that,

• There should be opportunities for more real life, first hand experiences
• Learning should be internally controlled and mediated by the leaner
• Focus on realistic approaches to solving real-world problems
•  Focus on knowledge construction, not reproduction.
• Foster reflective practice
• Enable context and content dependent knowledge construction
•  Encourage the use of multiple modes of representation
• Evaluation should serve as self-analysis tool
•  Co-operative and collaborative learning are favoured Learner’s previous knowledge, beliefs and attitudes are considered in the knowledge construction process.

Characteristics of constructivist classroom

1.  Knowledge is compiled through active dialogue between students and teacher.
2. Group interaction is encouraged to foster negotiation among students.
3.  Value is placed on the process of learning through experience and interaction.
4.  Learning occurs as students gain exposure to a variety of individual perspectives.
5.  Construction of knowledge based upon a comprehensive view of learning.
6.  Student-centered learning is the essence.
7. the classroom environment is comfortable and non-threatening.
8.  the construction of knowledge is done through reciprocal student-to-student or student-to teacher interaction.
9. emphasis is on the learning process by actively engaging in activities.
10. each attempt at constructivism is an opportunity for: experimentation, risk, challenge.
11.  Interaction between teacher-student and student-student should be given importance in the classroom.
12. diverse instructional and assessment strategies should be used in the classroom.
13. proper facilities and space for carrying out different learning activities should be there in classrooms.
14. democratic environment.
15.  leaners should actively participate in the classroom activities.

Characteristics of constructivist teacher

Constructivist teacher is a,

v facilitator

v coach

v scaffolder

v modelist for the students.

v The role of the teacher in constructivist philosophy is adapt to the learner’s needs and give them the freedom to construct knowledge for themselves. Each learner is considered as a unique individual, with cultural background, individual disposition, and prior knowledge influencing their learning. The teacher must consider all these factors, and then assist the learner in pursuing new knowledge and placing what they have learned into the context of their own lives.

v The teacher should pay attention to two particular factors in assisting learners. First, they should consider the learner’s zone of proximal development, and give the learners the help they need in constructing new knowledge and meanings. Second, they should facilitate peer interaction and cooperation between learners, since the social and cultural context of learning is essential in constructivist philosophy.

v Setting a conducive classroom environment.

v Planning the classes.

v Preparing appropriate teaching-learning materials.

v Carrying out the classroom activities or learning experiences in proper manner.

v Proper assessment of student’s works.

v Conducting the evaluation procedures properly.

v Proper classroom management.

 

 

 

LEARNING AS CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE

 

LEARNING AS CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE(NCERT,2005)

          The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organization of the Government of India which was established on 1 September 1961 as a literary, scientific and charitable Society under the Societies' Registration Act (Act XXI of 1860). Its headquarters are located at Sri AurbindoMarg in New Delhi. Dr. Hrushikesh Senapaty is director of the council since September 2015.

         The NCERT was established with the agenda to design and support a common system of education which is national in character and also enables and encourages the diverse culture across the country. Based on the recommendations of the Education Commission (1964-66), the first national policy statement on education was issued in 1968. The policy endorsed the adoption of a uniform pattern of school education across country consisting of 10 years of general education program followed by 2 years of diversified schooling.

     For NCERT, the 1970s was a decade flushed with curriculum research and development activities to relate the content and process of education to Indian realities.

National Curriculum Framework:

         The council (NCERT) came up with a new National Curriculum Framework in 2005, drafted by a National Steering Committee. This exercise was based on 5 guiding principles:

1. connecting knowledge to life outside school

2. shift from the rote method of learning

3. enriching the curriculum for overall development of children so that it goes beyond textbooks

4. making examinations flexible and integrating them with classroom life and

5. nurturing an identity informed by caring concerns

        In the constructivist perspective, learning is a process of the construction of knowledge. Learners actively construct their own knowledge by connecting new ideas to existing ideas on the basis of materials/activities presented to them (experience). constructivism is an approach to teaching and learning

§ NPE 1986, assigned a special role to NCERT in preparing and promoting NCF.

§ Yash Pal Committee Report, ‘Learning without Burden’ (1993) observes that learning has become a source of burden and stress on children and their parents.

§ Considering these observations, Executive Committee of NCERT decided at its meeting of July 14, 2004, to revise the National Curriculum Framework.

§ The process of development of NCF was initiated in November, 2004 by setting up various structures like National Steering Committee Chaired by Prof. Yash Pal and twenty-one

National Focus Groups on themes of curricular areas, systemic reforms and national concerns.

Vision and Perspective

§ To uphold values enshrined in the Constitution of India

§ To reduce of curriculum load

§ To ensure quality education for all

§ To initiate certain systemic changes

Guiding Principles

§ Connecting knowledge to life outside the School

§ Ensuring that learning is shifted away from rote methods

§ Enriching curriculum so that it goes beyond Text Book

§ Making Examination more flexible and non-threatening

§ Discuss the aims of education

§ Building commitment to democratic values of equality, justice, secularism and freedom.

Focus on child as an active learner

1. Primacy to children’s experience, their voices and participation

2. Needs for adults to change their perception of children as passive receiver of knowledge

3. Children can be active participants in the construction of knowledge and every child come to with pre-knowledge

4. Children must be encouraged to relate the learning to their immediate environment

5. Emphasizes that gender, class, creed should not be constraints for the child

6. Highlights the value of Integration

7. Designing more challenging activities

School and Classroom environment

§ Critical pre-requisites for improved performance – minimum infrastructure and material facilities and support for planning a flexible daily schedule

§ Focus on nurturing an enabling environment

§ Revisits tradition notions of discipline

§ Discuss needs for providing space to parents and community

§ Discuss other learning sites and resources like Texts and Books, Libraries and laboratories and media and ICT

§ Addresses the need for plurality of material and Teacher autonomy/professional independence to use such material.

Systemic Reforms

§ Covers needs for academic planning for monitoring quality

§ Teacher education should focus on developing professional identity of the Teacher

§ Examination reforms to reduce psychological stress particularly on children in class X and XII

 

 

Examination reforms highlight:

§ Shift from content-based testing to problem solving and competency-based assessment

§ Examinations of shorter duration

§ Flexible time limit

§ Change in typology of questions

§ No public examination till class VIII

§ Class X board exam to be made optional (in long term)

Teacher Education Reforms emphasize on preparation of teacher to

1. View learning as a search for meaning out of personal experience, and knowledge generation at a continuously evolving process of reflective learning.

2. View knowledge not as an external reality embedded in textbooks, but as constructed in the shared context of teaching-learning and personal experience.

Guidelines for Syllabus Development

1. Development of syllabi and textbooks based on following considerations

§ Appropriateness of topics and themes for relevant stages of children’s development

§ Continuity from one level to the next

§ Pervasive resonance of all the values enshrined in the constitution of India the organization of knowledge in all subjects

§ Inter-disciplinary and thematic linkages between topics listed for different school subjects, which falls under different discrete disciplinary areas.

§ Linkage between school knowledge and concern in all subjects and at all levels

§ Sensitivity to gender, caste, class, peace, health and need of children with disability

§ Integration of work-related attitudes and values in every subject and all levels

§ Need to nurture aesthetic sensibility and values

2. Linkage between school and college syllabi, avoid overlapping

3. Using potential of media and new information technology in all subjects

4. Encouraging flexibility and creativity in all areas of knowledge and its construction by children.

Development of Support Material

§ Audio/video programmes on NCF-2005 and textbooks

§ Source-book on learning assessment

§ Exemplar problems in Science and Mathematics

§ Science and Mathematics kits

§ Teachers’ handbooks and manuals.

§ Teacher Training Packages.

§ Developed syllabi and textbooks in new areas such as Heritage Craft, Media Studies, Art Education, Health and Physical Education, etc.

§ Taken various initiatives in the area of ECCE (Early Childhood Care Education), Gender, Inclusive Education, Peace, Vocational Education, Guidance and Counseling, ICT, etc.

Overall Evaluation

NCF 2005 highlights the following aspects:

§ The value of Interaction with environment, peers and older people to enhance learning.

§ That learning task must be designed to enable children to seek knowledge other than text books.

§ The need to move away from “Herbartian” lesson plan to prepare plans and activities that challenge children to think and try out what they are learning.

 

Teaching for Construction of Knowledge

• learning is a process of the construction of knowledge.

• Learners actively construct their own knowledge

• collaborative learning provides room for negotiation of meaning, sharing of multiple views and changing the internal representation of the external reality.

• Construction indicates that each learner individually and socially constructs meaning as he/she learns.

• Constructing meaning is learning.

The constructivist perspective provides strategies for promoting learning by all

• Active engagement involves enquiry, exploration, questioning, debates, application and reflection, leading to theory building and the creation of ideas.

Learning in and outside classroom-learners motivation and socio-cultural factors

       Traditional teaching styles are becoming less and less effective at reaching today’s students.

Student boredom is a deterrent to learning, and education has been criticized for not sufficiently challenging students.

       Research confirms that students learn most effectively from active engagement with information and ideas.

         Students learn better when they take the initiative to apply concepts to practice, to solve real problems, to make decisions, and to reflect on the consequences.

         It enables faculty members to pose problems, observe how students go about solving them, facilitate learning, observe learning as it occurs, and help students make meaning of their experiences. In this way, faculty members can address errors and misunderstandings during the learning process, rather than after they have occurred in homework assignments

'Learning happens everywhere, not just in the classroom'

Learning outside school

v a class in nature helps kids be more attentive and focused

v Field trips

v Service learning and community engagement

v Technology outside the classroom

Learning outside school,

• Develops the whole student

• Builds community and enhances connectedness to the school

• Helps you discover your passions and strengths

• Inspires your resume

• Improves your organization

• Utilization of community resources

• Opportunities for first hand experiences

           Learning outside the classroom is a tool for teaching and learning which has been proven to raise attainment and achievement, improve behaviour and improve the engagement of all groups of pupils, including those who are hard to engage inside the classroom environment.

• “Learning outside the classroom activities are often authentic, hands-on, interactive and build on classroom learning.”

• Learning outside the classroom is the use of places other than the school for teaching and learning. It is about getting children and young people out and about, providing them with challenging, exciting and different experiences to help them learn.

• Places may refer to a location, activity or workshop, but regardless of where learning outside the classroom takes place, the purpose is the same - to give students a real-world learning experience that will set them up for success in life beyond school.

• Learning outside the classroom experiences differ from those that arise through conventional teaching methods as students may be encouraged to engage a broader range of soft skills such as teamwork, leadership and compromise in their learning environment.

• Conventional teaching focuses on repetition and memorization to educate students and is beneficial for sharing new knowledge and teaching students who learn best by listening. However, conventional teaching doesn't encourage students to develop critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills, which learning outside the classroom can.

• Not only can learning outside the classroom lead to a deeper understanding of challenging concepts, but it can also provide a context for learning in many areas.

Ø  Develops the whole student.

Ø   Builds community and enhances connectedness to the school.

Ø  Helps you discover your passions and strengths.

Ø  Inspires your resume.

Ø  Improves your organization.

Ø   Utilization of community resources.

Ø  Opportunities for first hand experiences.

Why learning outside the classroom is important?

ü  Make learning more engaging.

ü   Make learning relevant.

ü  Nurture creativity and imagination.

ü  Improve attendance.

ü   Reduce behavioural problems.

ü   Develop interest in environment and wider surroundings.

ü  Expose children to new opportunities.

ü   Keep healthy.

ü  Enjoy almost limitless resources.

LEANERS MOTIVATION AND SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS

          Motivation is the desires, needs and interests that arouse or activate a leaner and specific goal.

         Motivation in school learning involves arousing, persisting, sustaining and directing desirable behaviour-C F Skinner

Ø Intrinsic motivation

Ø Extrinsic motivation

          It can be said, that the process of motivation in its simplest form is initiated by a conscious awareness of an unsatisfied need. A goal is then set and actions are taken that will result in the achievement of the goal. When the needs have been satisfied, new ones develop and the cycle continues.

Ways to motivate leaner?

o Define the objectives

o Give variety of learning experiences

o Make use of different types of teaching-learning materials

o Change scenery-field trips, learning outside classroom

o Create threat free environment

o Positive/healthy competitions

o Rewards

o Praise students positive behaviours

o Give students responsibility

o Allow students to work together

o Encourage self-reflection

o Make goals high but attainable

o Give feedback and offer chances to improve

Socio cultural factors

Ø  Customs, Traditions, beliefs.

Ø  Economic conditions.

Ø   Political conditions.

Ø  Family.

 

A LEARNING CYCLE

 A LEARNING CYCLE

INSTUCTION STRATEGIES

The learning cycle instructional model provides a roadmap through the teaching experience.

• It really doesn't lock the teacher into one instructional strategy, but opens the teaching episode to the use of cooperative learning, guided inquiry, and the use of technology.

• These models allow for different forms of interaction between teacher and learners and provide time and opportunities for learners to meet the instructional goals for the lesson.

The learning cycle rests on constructivism as its theoretical foundation.

"Constructivism is a dynamic and interactive model of how humans learn"(Bybee, 1997).

• A constructivist perspective assumes students must be actively involved in

their learning and concepts are not transmitted from teacher to student but constructed by the

student.

• Teachers can make learning meaningful when they employ activities that call on students to use their prior knowledge and experiences to construct their own frames of thought (Johnson,1996)

 

What is the Learning Cycle?

          The learning cycle is a sequential process for both learning and instruction. It places focus on a series of steps that encourage a more thorough understanding and a deeper application of content. It also pushes students toward inquiry and discovery in their learning. The learning cycle gives teachers a process for instruction while giving students a formula for learning.

        While several variations have been developed over the years, the original learning cycle was created based on ideas Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget had in regards to how children learn. Piaget's goal was to match content mastery with a student's cognitive development process.

       Robert Karplus and his colleagues proposed and used an instructional model based on the work of piaget. This became known as the “learning cycle”

       Karplus (1962) and others, developed the original Learning Cycle. Karplusbelieved that textbook-based science teaching alone did not give students at any age the integration of conceptual understanding the process skills that he called "scientific reasoning." This integration, he suggested, is necessary both to become a scientist and to understand science as a citizen.

         His contributions to science education were based on his growing understanding in 3 areas: children's cognitive learning strategies and levels, varied conceptual organizations of science; and a learning cycle, guided-discovery system to make that complex of concepts and process, referred to as scientific reasoning, available to students of varying ages and levels of expertise.

          Beginning with the "Elementary School Science Project (ESSP)," continuing with early 1960s science projects in several states, and culminating with the 10 year, NSF-funded Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Karplus expanded his activities and contribution in science education.

His learning cycle is 3-pronged:

1. Exploration: pupils learn through their own actions and reactions with minimum guidance. The learners are expected to raise questions they can't answer with their present ideas or reasoning patterns.

2. Concept Invention: the concept is introduced and explained with help from teacher.

3. Concept application: the concept is applied to new situations and its range of applicability is extended.

       Learning is achieved by repetition and practice so that new ideas and ways of thinking have time to stabilize.

 

THE 5E LEARNING CYCLE

                      

                                                           

           The 5e learning cycle is an instructional design model that defines a learning sequence based on the on the experiential learning philosophy of John Dewey and the experiential learning cycle proposed by David Kolb. Attributed Roger Bybee of the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), the model presents a framework for constructivist learning theories and can be effectively used in teaching science.

1.     Engage:

         Here the task is introduced. Connections to past learning and experience can be invoked. A demonstration of an event, the presentation of a phenomenon or problem or asking pointed questions can be used to focus the learners' attention on the tasks that will follow. The goal is to spark their interest and involvement.

2.     Explore:

            Learners should take part in activities that allow them to work with materials that give them a 'hands on' experience of the phenomena being observed. Simulations or models whose parameter can be manipulated by learners, so that they can build relevant experiences of the phenomena, can be provided. Questioning, sharing and communication with other learners should be encouraged during this stage. The teacher facilitates the process.

3.     Explain:

       The focus at this stage is on analysis. The learner is encouraged to put observations, questions, hypotheses and experiences from the previous stages into language. Communication between learners and learner groups can spur the process. The instructor may choose to introduce explanations, definitions, mediate discussions or simply facilitate by helping learners find the words needed.

4.     Elaborate/Extend

        Using the understanding gained in the previous stages, now learners should be encouraged build and expand upon it. Inferences, deductions, and hypotheses can be applied to similar or real-world situations. Varied examples and applications of concepts learnt strengthen mental models and provide further insight and understanding.

5.     Evaluate

         Evaluation should be ongoing and should occur at all stages, in order to determine that learning objectives have been met and misconceptions avoided. Any number of rubrics, checklists, interviews, observation or other evaluation tools can be used. If interest in a particular aspect or concept is shown, further inquiry should be encouraged and a new cycle can begin that builds upon the previous one. Inquiries may branch off and inspire new cycles, repeating the process in a spiraling fractal of interrelated concepts, where instruction is both structured and yet open to investigation.

General Schemata for Most Learning Cycles

1.       Become aware of their prior knowledge.

2.       Foster co-operative leaning and a safe positive learning environment.

3.       Compare new alternatives to their prior. knowledge.

4.        Connect into what they already know.

5.       Construct their own new knowledge

6.        Apply the new knowledge in the ways that are different from the situation in which it was learned

Why use a learning cycle?

Ø  Students are more aware of their own reasoning

Ø  They recognize shortcomings of their conceptions as a result of being encouraged to try them out.

Ø  Can apply procedures.

Ø  Can search more effectively for new patterns.

Ø  Can apply what they learn more often in new settings.

Classroom Instruction Strategies

A successful classroom would include the following instructional strategies:

Ø Creating the Right Classroom Climate

Ø Your Classroom Plan

Ø Organizing your Classroom

Ø Developing Routines and. Procedures

Ø Assigning and managing work assignments

Ø Preparing for instruction

Ø Managing behaviour

Ø Keeping it, all going

 

         The first instructional strategies would be creating the right classroom climate.

This is to assure that your students feel safe, secure and are engaged with their own learning. Learning decreases when students feel- threatened or unchallenged (Marzano, et al, 1992). Have discussions with your students on how to maintain the right climate for your classroom. Have them help formulate the way they want the classroom to run and they will help you enforce everyone's expectations.

        The second instructional strategy would be your classroom plan. This will help you foster student involvement-and cooperation in your classroom activities and will help establish a productive working environment. To establish a productive working environment, make your room stimulating and inviting. Classroom displays and arrangements must be actional and inviting. Your students will be more than happy to be in on the decision-making process of how to make your classroom learner friendly.

         The third instructional strategy would involve organizing your classroom. You will need to create room arrangements that allow for activities that require movement.