Constructivism in Practice...PB&J

Constructive chaos is one description of the way my classroom operates. We always seem to be on the verge of taking flight to a new topic or direction in a lesson, but everyone is engaged. My students are actively learning within our lessons and at times their questions or responses guide how we will digest the information being offered, and how that information is being presented. My lesson plans are a list of goals for the day; our outcomes and curriculum lead us in a direction with many roads to traverse before we reach our final destination of understanding.

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According to Dr. Orey, the constructivist theory of learning states that students create their own meaning and constructionist theory states that students learn best by physically creating something. These two theories seem to be interrelated. How can you make something without creating a new meaning or idea of it? When making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I am creating a new meaning and testing hypotheses of the varying recipes to improve my sandwich or to adjust it to fit what I am wanting. I encourage students to create hypotheses and have them “engaging in complex mental processes” (Pittler, p.202). Students are also applying this method of creating hypotheses to create their own understanding. Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works propose six tasks for testing and creating hypotheses. Students can predict and test their thoughts on how something would change, identify a solution with different parameters of a problem, changes to historical events, discover a need and create a solution, identify how or why something happened, and to make a decision with different variables (203). Hypotheses and the constructivist/constructionist learning theories are closely aligned. Students are given a problem and they have to create a hypothesis to solve the problem whether it is from physically creating something or just creating a new understanding of how the problem could be solved. 

Technology plays an important role in bridging all of the ideas from this week’s information. It is a way for students to gather information more quickly, to generate difficult calculations, and to share their learning with others. Applying the use of hypotheses and the constructivist/constructionist learning theories will help my students become more engaged in their learning. They will be more responsible for what they will get out of an assignment. I can be a guide to my students, but like leading a horse to water I cannot make the horse drink, nor can I make my students learn.

Resources:

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.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Motion picture. Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.