Constructivism: the broader view of Constructionism
That guy Piaget seems to creep up in every uni subject! Firstly before i begin, i am not going to provide info on Piaget’s life and critique all his developmental theories. If you would like that sort of information click here. If not, please continue to read my thoughts.
So, what has old man Piaget got to do with elearning? I for one remember that he died in 1980 so he sure certainly didn’t contribute to online learning! Or did he…
I believe he did contribute to the wide world of elearning but indirectly.
Developmentalist Jean Piaget became well renown for his particular theory on Constructivism. AS the name implies, it is based on constructing- that children are making/creating something. ‘Constructivism — particularly in its “social” forms — suggests that the learner is much more actively involved in a joint enterprise with the teacher of creating (”constructing”) new meanings.’ (www.learningandteaching.info)
So basically im writing this blog to remind myself as a student teacher to not only use technology as a means to present or display information, but as a way students can discover, fiddle and build on their own learning and create new meanings. This can be done by just browsing the net or using creative programs like Scratch.
For further information and insight on Piaget and his constructivist theory, I recommend taking a a quick read ofGillani B, O’Guinn C.
Kwei Wang, S. & Han, S. (2001). Six C’s of Motivation. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.
After scrolling through a fellow friends blog i noticed a rather ‘controversial’ posting. The post was a critique regarding Kwei Wang & Han’s (2001). Six C’s of Motivation article. The only reason it would be deemed controversial was because Eliza wrote negative comments on the article. I haven’t come across 1 blog-site which does not recommend the article which they had reviewed. So i reckon that was a super brilliant idea of Eliza’s. So much so i decided to read that particular article purely to see were eliza was coming from and why she believed all the information was common knowledge for teachers.
The article was exactly how Eliza portrayed it. Teaching strategies of cchoice, challenges, control, collaboration, constructing meaning, and consequences are unfortunatly not novel ideas. Just because they all start with a C doesn’t mean they are ‘creative’. The Ms. Betty scenario certainly wasn’t ‘cool’ either as it was fairly unrealistic. For example, i dont think tenth grade students would be too enthusiastic to present their newspaper project at school book fair…
To discover Eliza’s 6 C’s blog and other click here
I found this picture on flikr and felt it captured the idea of learning perfectly.
To me, school is like a whole heap of doors and teachers have the keys to open them. For centuries, schools have been the way to educate people about the world and how to live and interact with society. Teachers can be seen as the keys to the doors because they are the ones who provide the opportunities to seek. Teachers are, or should be the mentors, the guiders and the leaders for students. They shoould encourage the students to open the doors and inquire and learn.
Even when students have finished school, whether it be primary or secondary, teachers would have allowed students to make a copy of those keys so you can, at any time, open those doors throughout your life and keep finding information.
When i think of the word construction, i think of a building site.
I think of cranes, bulldozers and men in hard hats.
Do you?
The notion of a building site is actually not too far from the truth, because constructivism is a theory about the way people learn – through experiencing/making things. To fulfill the notion of constructivism, we as learners must ask questions, explore new knowledge, and assess what we already know.
I think i hit the jackpot when i was searching for information on constructivism on the web as i came across thirteen.org. they have this fantastic ‘concept to classroom’ site which allowed me to read up on the theory of constructivism and then find out how we can relate the theory to a pedagogical point of view.
I wont comment as yet about the theory and my point of view because i want to research it further and supplement this info with other websites first in order to make a well rounded summary.
Think about these questions below after reading the information. If you agree and answer yes to these questions (taken from thirteen.org) , well constructivism is your kind of theory!
Think about how you learn. When you hear, read, or see something new, does it help to talk about it and reflect on it to better understand the new information? How about research? Does it help to do some active research on this new information?
I stumbled upon a fantastic newspaper article in The guide section of the Sydney
Morning Herald the other week and it proved to fit in perfectly with what we have learnt in this weeks e-learning tutorial regarding the services and stimulations a computer can provide which traditional learning methods cant. The article titled, ‘Dial-up Duxes’ questions what role is technology playing in the learning process for our students.
The article stemmed from the recent promises of the federal and state governments that there will be a computer for every student from grades 9-12 and fast broadband connection for every school. These promises alone will cost over $1 billion. As much as I believe that all students should have access to computers and the Internet, I question if it would be worth the cost. I personally feel that amount of money is excessive and it could be spent on other education priorities such as special education and improving indigenous education standards. Dr Karl Kruszelnicki states ‘technology adds another 10% to the classroom package.’ So why spend a fortune on a resource which constitutes only 10% of classroom package?
In addition, Roche, an education technology director feels that “Technology is just a tool…You have to think about how the teaching and learning can best be done and not do technology for technology sake.” I concur as i have encountered numerous times where teachers and myself have just used computer programs as novelty time fillers or just as a research medium.
I guess, like all things in life, it just comes down to balance. Technology is here to stay in our classrooms so we have to learn to provide a balance, a variety of tools and mediums in which students can learn because all children learn in different ways.
After reading Harel, I. (2003) web article on Learning Skills for the Millennium it further prompted me to look at her website.
I discovered that although the article was valid and made some thought provoking comments, Harels site had also become outdated. So I found Harel ironically confirming her own prophecies;
‘We live in a time of constant and rapid change. What we learn today may become obsolete tomorrow.’
Take at look at MamaMedia and you will see what i mean. Its really old school; the website hasn’t been updated since 2005, the game graphics are pretty poor and there are a lot of invalid pages on the site because it is so old. Eg; see the Special Offer page and you will realise there is no special offer any more and you cant order online.
So although the article was interesting in itself, I found it spurred me on to looking at their website instead. I found navigating my way around this ‘old school’ site even more informative than the article for analysis purposes.
So, you think you are being environmentally responsible by placing your outdated mobile phone in the special recycling bin at selected retail outlets, but do you ever think about the other electronics you constantly update and discard? This was an awesome magazine article in the National Geographic January 2008 issue. It makes you think twice before you go and update your old brick of a computer to the new 2008 laptop Apple Macbook Air.
Did you know that in the US, more than 70% of discarded computers, Tv’s, etc end up in landfill, although all ‘e-waste’ can leak lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, beryllium and other toxics in the ground.
Rainforest Maths PROS:
• Its an Aussie website created by an Aussie Teacher.
• It assist students in the exploration and practice in the world of math’s.
• Its themed. The whole site is based on Maths with a rainforest theme. EG: Rainforest currency was created for the money segments.
• It covers an array of maths subjects: numbers, functions, time, measurement, probability, space, fractions, etc.
• Its bright, colourful and attractive to children. Boys and girls alike would appreciate it. It features animated pictures
• It provides tips, hints, help pages for independent learning.
• Full of Aussie animals
• Simple URL for children to remember
CONS:
• It’s not outdated but its not updated. It was created in 2006 but Its last update was in May 2007. The activities themselves have not become outdated it just becomes a little monotonous for the students if they frequently use the website because they ant further challenge themselves past Level 6.
• Flash player 6 is needed and perhaps ot all school computers have downloaded this. But it doesn’t take long to set up.
• Once you have chosen the grade of math’s, the math’s content menu page is a little overwhelming. It’s too busy.
Other than this i enjoyed the website. I even like to test my grade 6 maths skills on the site.
