I learned a lot last week about
cognitivism and how elaboration plays a key role in the individual’s ability to
retain and recall information as students use
strategies that help them make connections, collaborate, and use technology to
help them retain and recall information. The knowledge that I have
gained from our readings this week has helped me make the connection that
constructivism/constructionism really works hand in hand with cognitivism and
behaviorism because it utilizes background knowledge, collaboration, reflection,
and feedback enhanced by technology to aid in the construction of knowledge.
Dr. Orey (Laureate Education, Inc.,
2011) does a nice job of differentiating between constructivism, which is how
an individual actively constructs his/her own meaning, and constructionism,
which has to do with providing first hand experiences where students build an
artifact or share something with others to facilitate learning. The words are often interchangeable and since
I am going to be discussing strategies that enhance how individuals build
knowledge, I am going to use constructionism.
The instructional strategies discussed
by Han & Bhattacharya (2001)
and Glazer (2001) are Learning by Design (LBD), Project-Based Learning (PBL)
and Problem-Based Learning. The common
thread that connects these strategies is that students construct knowledge
using real life applications and the teacher acts as facilitator. They are uniquely different in that LBD and
PBL require students to create an artifact to be presented or shared with the
class and Problem Based Learning requires students to solve a problem. Higher level thinking is the name of the
game as students combine cognitive skills, such as making connections to
background knowledge and participating in elaborative experiences as students
collaborate, with constructionist
practices, such as information seeking, questioning, and reflection. All require higher level thinking and all of
the strategies will help students make connections to their long term
memory. The challenge with
constructionism is providing students with enough time for all of that
collaboration, elaboration, and reflection.
Technology can be the solution to that dilemma.
Chapter Eleven of our text this week is
called Generating and Testing Hypotheses and
presented recommendations on how to implement this constructionist strategy in
all content areas using technology (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 202 -216). The beauty of using technology to facilitate
constructionism is that it maximizes instructional time and meets learning
objectives (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 207).
Problem-based learning and project-based learning through generating and
testing hypotheses helps students construct knowledge in a meaningful way and
engages them in real world tasks. This
type of open-ended task allows students to test their hypothesis and get a
different answer than other groups. Offering the opportunity for
students to collaborate as they gather information, make predictions, evaluate
and share the results and get feedback are important steps in constructionism
practices. When students generate and test hypotheses it is important to use a
variety of structured tasks to guide them and give them an opportunity to
explain the hypothesis and the conclusions that they make (Pitler et al., 2007,
p. 203). Following that recommendation, teachers
should vary the use of technologies that enhance the generation and testing of
hypotheses such as spreadsheet software, data collection tools, and Web
resources.
I found the Web resources in the book
most interesting and helpful this week.
I was able to share a couple of the links with my colleagues. The links that got the most rave reviews from
my peers was www.primaryaccess.com and www.explorelearning.com. I also really liked the real world
applications that a webquest can provide.
One webquest I recently did with my students was an inquiry into fast
food and healthy eating. I set up a
scenario where students were left in charge of the family meals for a week and
had to make sure their overweight little brother and their elderly grandmother,
who has hypertension, ate healthy. Both
individuals in the scenario just love fast food, so the students had to conduct
research via the webquest on healthy options from fast food restaurants as well
as the risks of hypertension and obesity.
The webquest was done by teams of students and after the teams collected
all of their information they had to share their recommendations with the other
groups. It illustrates how
constructionism can be used in the classroom.
Now that I have learned about data collection tools and interactive
spreadsheets, I am working on adapting the lesson to take advantage of that
technology.
Over the last few weeks I have learned
about behaviorism, cognitivism and now constructionism and I have a better
understanding of how these learning theories are interrelated. When teachers plan lessons utilizing
background knowledge, collaboration, reflection, and feedback enhanced by
technology to aid in the construction of knowledge, they are applying all the
learning theories at their best. Do you have a favorite learning theory? What challenges or benefits have you experienced when using constructionist strategies?
The information at this site provides a wealth of PBL resources to check out in a variety of subjects: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/project.htm.
Glazer, E.
(2001). Problem Based Instruction. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on
learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved May 22, 2012 from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Han, S., and Bhattacharya, K. (2001). Constructionism,
Learning by Design, and Project Based Learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging
perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved May 22, 2012,
from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Laureate Education,
Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist
learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging
learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Pitler,
H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with
classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Posts
5 comments:
Lauri,
What a great activity you did with your students! It sounds like such a realistic activity for the students to carry out--as fast food and obesity are so prominent in our society today. I'm sure that the students really got into it and learned a little more about their own health in turn.
As far as challenges for me, using a rubric ranks high up there. I have not used rubrics before, however I do know there are numerous benefits in doing so. Students will know exactly what is expected of them and what they have to do in order to obtain a certain score. Teachers will have an easier time grading such projects and artifacts if there is a rubric tied to it. So, my short-term goal is to begin the next school year with rubrics--taking baby steps until my students and myself are more familiar and comfortable with them!
The benefits of constructionism can be endless! In a roundabout way, teachers have the opportunity to do less--acting as a facilitator and taking a backseat while the student is the driver and in charge of his or her own learning. Many might see this as a challenge but I see it as a huge benefit. When students are more in charge of their learning I think they tend to be more engaged and do a much better job with the task(s) at hand. Giving students some lead way can pay big dividends! That is why constructionism and constructivism are my favorite learning theories.
Thank you for your great post! :)
Stacy
Stacy,
I absolutely love rubrics and here is the reason why. It makes a teacher's job so much easier when students know exactly how they will be assessed on their projects and assignments. I found rubrics rather intimidating in the beginning, however, as I started looking around the Internet for examples and began to tweak what I found, it got easier for me to begin to create my own. Rubistar (http://rubistar.4teachers.org/) looks like a great site for making your own rubrics as well as the other resources listed for rubrics in our text (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuh, & Malenoski (2007, p.32).
Good luck! :)
Lauri
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Lauri,
Thank you for your insights! You reminded me that these theories should not be thought of in isolation, but as working together in the classroom to enhance teaching and learning. If we are doing our jobs, we should be using more than one theory, and many do go hand-in-hand as you suggested.
I was always inquiry driven growing up. If I had a question, I usually stopped at nothing until I found an answer, unless it was a question that did not necessarily have an answer. I was always the child who took things apart to figure out how they worked, although sometimes I was not so good at putting them back together. Ha! I think that is one of the beauties of constructionism. Students are fostering the desire to become life-long learners because they are so highly engaged in the process of building an artifact and seeking answers to their questions.
Thanks,
Whitney
Whitney,
Thank you for your comments. I was the same way as a child and was forever trying to figure out how to do things and back then all I had was the family set of encyclopedias and the Book fo Knowledge series. I wonder what makes some people more engaged in life long learning than others...?
Lauri O
That is a question I have often wondered. I think it has to do with who helps foster the desire for life-long learning. My father is an engineer and would always allow me to help him when he was working on something in the garage. My mom is a nurse who also allowed me to ask many questions and showed me new things. I also fortunately had many excellent teachers throughout elementary, middle, and high school.
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