Social constructivism’s origins are largely attributed to Lev Vygotsky (1978). Vygotsky believed that social constructivism is the idea that learning occurs when people are socially active; in other words, learning is created through our interaction with others. In a constructivist style classroom, the focus shifts from the teacher teaching the students to the students teaching each other and having more control over what they learn by asking questions and coming up with their own conclusion on things (2016). This style of teaching can be very successful when the teacher provides enough scaffolding. In a typical classroom, you have a teacher standing in the front of the room lecturing to students while they sit and take notes on the information being given so they can spit it back up for a test they will have at the end of the unit. In the constructivist style classroom, the students are pushed to be more active and engaged in their learning process (Education Theory). The teacher creates an environment where students are urged to speak up and share what they think and have the class run more on a student run process. The teacher’s role in this style is not to sit and lecture information but rather engage students actively to find this information on their own and discover it so that it creates more meaning and provides a better understanding. The main goal in this type of learning environment is problem solving. This style of teaching promotes self-guidance and can even
According to Anthony & Walshaw, (2009) within a constructivist view, it is a teacher’s role to facilitate the learning of a child by providing a resource rich environment from which they guide a students learning. A student within a constructivist-learning environment must become engaged in the learning process by becoming a researcher, identifying a problem, collecting and analysing data and formulating a conclusion. This process of engagement provides a student with endless opportunity to develop his or her own understanding and knowledge. An educators ability to understand this learning theory as a process of construction and development provides a conceptual framework from which to build a teaching practice.
Constructivism is defined by ( (Marsh, 2007) as a theory of how the learner constructs knowledge from experience, which is unique to each individual. The theories of constructivism require qualitative change evidence within conceptual content(Carey, Zaitchik, & Bascandziev, 2015). Also, there’s a difference between cognitive constructivism and social constructivism. Cognitive Constructivism is when individuals construct ideas based off of personal process, whereas social constructivism believes that ideas are constructed through student and teacher interaction(Powell & Kalina, 2009) Many people give credit to Lev Vygotsky for his constructivist theory but Jean Piaget is the patriarch of the theory.
The constructivism learning theory benefits teachers and students alike in several ways. One benefits is that students are given the opportunity to be involved in the learning process therefore find learning enjoyable and interesting rather than sitting, listening, and perhaps avoid learning. The same concept applies to employee training. When a trainee participates in the learning process he or she not only becomes eager and interested in the
I am going to discuss and focus on Lee Vygotsky and his theory of Constructivism. One of Lee Vygotsky main theories was in fact constructivism; it is interesting to read about Lee Vygotsky view on constructivism as it is about how people learn and is based on a scientific study. One of the main meanings behind constructivism is “Constructivism is people who construct their own understanding and
Constructivist teaching. Muijs and Reynolds (2005) interpreted that the principles of constructivist teaching consider all learners construct knowledge for themselves, rather than absorbing knowledge directly from the teacher. This means that every pupil will learn something slightly differently from a particular lesson given. The assumption that pupils are active knowledge constructers has several consequences. For examples, the learners need to be active in order to construct knowledge or to learn effectively, teaching is about helping children construct their own meaning rather than training them to get the right answer without the actual understanding of the concept, and pupils learn best when new lessons are clearly related to what they already know,
The macrosystem is describing the cultural world along with ethnicity and the economic status. (Hutchison, 2016) Considering how I had a very wide range of diverse friends it helped me to develop and grow within my macrosystem. In my opinion, I feel that my macrosystem really needed to have a diverse background seeing as how when in the social work field, I will be working with all types of people, from different religious views and cultural background. I also feel the social constructionist perspective can go along with this system as well. According to Hutchison, social constructionist perspective helps see human understanding as the product and the driving force of social interaction. (Hutchison, 2016) During my junior leading up to my graduation
In conclusion, it is important to adopt both a constructivist stance and a sociological imagination to better understand the abortion laws as a social problem from the Pro-Life perspective. Adopting the constructivist stance allows you to avoid getting side tracked from the specifics of the issues within the abortion laws itself but rather, the process of their development and why they have been deemed a social problem by the Pro-Life movement. Understanding the process of the abortion laws transforming into a social problem equips individuals with the proper tools to ask critical thinking questions about not how the abortion law came about but why and why it evokes a particularly negative response from the Pro-Life movement. Using sociological
At the age of eight, I started to become the parent of my household. I was responsible for cooking, packing lunches, taking care of my family, and cleaning the house. Growing up with these responsibilities influenced how I interacted with my peers and how I managed my relationships with others. The environmentally influence being a parent in my house has shaped me into the person I am today and has taught me many life lessons. I became the parental influence of the household because my mother got severely sick and could not handle the roles as a mother or wife.
When we are born our mind is a blank chalkboard. As we grow and interact with the world around us, that chalkboard gets filled with pictures, shapes, and words that construct our ideals in life. It is important that not only we, but our children be surrounded by open minded positivity. In the article that I will analyze we can clearly see where the picture for a better tomorrow goes rye.
The great challenge for constructivism is that the world in which students and teachers interact is not utopian. Students come to class with predetermined ideas about a course, or with personal needs that distract from attention from the classroom experience. Some students are not willing or able to interact with peers due to emotional issues, thus
I am at my core a social constructivist that this naturally draws me towards the use of storytelling as a technique for my work and a tool for my research. The two philosophical assumptions that will impact my research and practice are ontological and axiological assumptions and beliefs. I base my beliefs in the fact that reality can only been seen when viewed through multiple lenses and this reality is influenced by ones values, beliefs and experiences. Creswell (2007) states that the interpretive framework of social constructivism is made up of individuals who look for understanding in their professional and personal lives and this exactly what I seek. But seeking to understand how justice can be secured for all Americans one must examine
Furthermore, as I read the assigned articles and viewed videos, I realized that my teachers obviously, followed Piaget’s, Vygotsky. Dewey, and Bruner constructivist view because they used the theory of assimilation and accommodation, e.g., the learning of a new experience and changing of a person’s worldview. I also discovered after deep reflection on this week’s assignment, how much of an impact my teachers had on my teaching style. Before retiring, I taught based on what my students needed. Therefore, much of my teaching mixed the theories of, Constructivism, Social Constructivism and Cognitive-Behavioral depending on the student.
Constructivism is connected to the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget believed that cognitive development occurred in four stages that have distinct developmental characteristics. He theorised that all information is organised into ‘schemas’, and this refers to the manner in which a child organisesand stores information and knowledge received. As new information is received, it is either incorporated into existing schemas (assimilation) or new schemas (accommodation) are created (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). Vygotsky’s theories compliment those of Piaget and place a greater importance on social interaction as he considered cognitive development predominately was achievedthrough social interaction. Vygotsky believed that learning could be accelerated with the assistance of a more advanced peer or teacher. This concept is referred to as the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and works in conjunction with the theory of ‘scaffolding’, where a teacher provides support to student and as proficiency increases the scaffolding is decreased (Marsh, 2008). Evidence of scaffolding is seen throughout the Maths video as Ms Poole provides an outline of the lesson and the goals to allow students to establish a focus.
People are often known to be storytellers, narratives are told about individual stories and what such experiences depict. Societies and cultures, generally, possess an understanding of past and future views in regards to conflicts, peace building or reconciliation. Similarly, organisational understanding and intervening of the culture comes from a concept of stories assisting organisational development on regular basis (Boyce: 1996). This view takes social constructivism, critical theory and organisational symbolism into account. Such stories form basis of management practices with varied intricate issues, but these help functioning of the organisation regardless of the challenges. This pragmatic organisational behaviour is a perspective’s consequence, but an interesting concept for present managers (Griffin: 1993: 27-42).
There are five identified central tenets of constructivism as a teaching philosophy: Constructivist teachers seek and value students’ points of view. This concept is similar to the reflective action process we call withitness, in which teachers attempt to perceive students’ needs and respond to them appropriately; Constructivist teachers challenge students to see different points of view and thereby construct new knowledge. Learning occurs when teachers ask students what they think they know about a subject and why they think they know it; Constructivist teachers recognize that curricula must have meaning for students. When students see the relevance of curricula, their interest in learning grows; Constructivist teachers create lessons that tackle big ideas, not small bits of information. By seeing the whole first, students are able to determine how the parts fit together; Constructivist teachers assess student learning in daily classroom activities, not through the use of separate testing or evaluation events. Students