Chapter 10- Constructivism

Question 1

learning sciences

Answer 1

an interdisciplinary science of learning, based on research in psychology, education, computer science, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, neuroscience, and other fields that study learning, interested in how deep knowledge in certain subjects is acquired and applied in the real world, basic assumptions: experts have deep conceptual knowledge, learning comes from the learner, schools must create effective learning environments, prior knowledge and beliefs are key, reflection is necessary to develop deep conceptual knowledge

Question 2

embodied cognition

Answer 2

theory stating that cognitive processes develop from real-time, goal-directed interactions between humans and their environment, the way our bodies interact with the world to achieve our goals affects our thinking, what develops cognitively depends on our sensorimotor engagement of the world, leads to the conclusion that thinking is constructive

Question 3

constructivism

Answer 3

view that emphasizes the active role of the learner in building understanding and making sense of information, grounded in research of piaget, vygotsky, and gestalt, two central ideas: learners are active in constructing their knowledge, and social interactions are important in this knowledge construction process, two forms: psychological and social construction, humans construct mental models or schemas and continue to revise them to make better sense of their experiences, unique interpretations, emphasize knowledge in use, learning goals include problem solving, critical thinking, inquiry, self-determination, and openness to multiple perspectives

Question 4

first wave constructivism

Answer 4

a focus on the individual and psychological sources of knowing, as in Piaget’s theory, less concerned with correct representations and more interested in the meaning as an individual constructs it

Question 5

radical constructivism

Answer 5

knowledge is assumed to be the individual’s construction; it cannot be judged right or wrong, individuals can never know objective reality or truth, they can only know what they perceive and believe, we have no way of knowing the knowledge constructed by others or even whether our knowledge is correct, learning is replacing one construction with another

Question 6

appropriating

Answer 6

being able to internalize or take for yourself knowledge and skills developed in interaction with others or with cultural tools

Question 7

second wave constructivism

Answer 7

a focus on the social and cultural sources of knowing, as in vygotsky’s theory, putting learning in social and cultural contexts, people are products and producers of their societies and cultures

Question 8

constructionism

Answer 8

how public knowledge in disciplines such as science, math, economics, or history are connected, believe all knowledge is socially constructed and some people have more power than others to define what constitutes such knowledge

Question 9

community of practice

Answer 9

social situation or context in which ideas are judged useful or true, ideas within a community of practice may be judged useless outside that community, the practices of the community constitute the knowledge of the community

Question 10

situated learning

Answer 10

the idea that skills and knowledge are tied to the situation in which they were learned and that they are difficult to apply to new settings, emphasizes the idea that much of what is learned is specific to the situation in which it is learned

Question 11

complex learning environments

Answer 11

problems and learning situations that mimic the ill-structured nature of real life, schools should be sure that every student has experiences solving complex problems (multi-part, multiple interacting elements with multiple possible solutions) embedded in authentic situations, consistent with situated learning

Question 12

social negotiation

Answer 12

aspect of learning process that relies on collaboration with others and respect for different perspectives, develop student’s abilities to establish and defend their own positions while respecting the positions of others and working together to negotiate or co-construct meaning

Question 13

intersubjective attitude

Answer 13

a commitment to build shared meaning with others by finding common ground and exchanging interpretation, social negotiation is challenging for cultures that are individualistic and competitive to adopt an intersubjective attitutde

Question 14

multiple representations of content

Answer 14

considering problems using various analogies, examples, and metaphors, when students encounter only one way of understanding complex content, they often oversimplify as they try to apply that one approach to every situation

Question 15

spiral curriculum

Answer 15

bruner’s design for teaching that introduces the fundamental structure of all subjects early in the school years, then revisits the subjects in more and more complex forms over time

Question 16

scaffolding

Answer 16

support for learning and problem solving; support could be clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example, or anything else that allows the student to grow in independence as a learner, scaffolding is required for students to work within their ZPD, which is required for deep understanding, three main characteristics: contingency support (teacher is adjusting, differentiating, and tailoring responses), fading (teacher gradually withdraws support), transferring responsibility (students assume more responsibility for their learning)

Question 17

inquiry learning

Answer 17

approach in which the teacher presents a puzzling situation and students solve the problem by gathering data and testing their conclusions, students formulate a hypothesis, collect data to test the hypothesis, draw conclusions, and reflect on the original problem and the thinking process needed to solve it, procedural, epistemic, conceptual, or social, more effective that teacher centered approaches

Question 18

problem-based learning

Answer 18

methods that provide students with realistic problems that don’t necessarily have “right” answers, goal is to develop knowledge that is useful and flexible- not inert, identify and analyze the problem based on the facts from the scenario, research, then apply knowledge, evaluate problem solutions, research again, and reflect on the knowledge and skills they have gained

Question 19

cognitive apprenticeship

Answer 19

a relationship in which a less experienced learner acquires knowledge and skills under the guidance of an expert, performances required of the learner are real and important and grow more complex as the learner becomes more competent, six main steps: observation, external support, conceptual scaffolding, articulation of knowledge, reflection on progress, and explore new ways to apply what theyre learning

Question 20

reciprocal teaching

Answer 20

designed to help students understand and think deeply about what they read, small groups of students improve their reading comprehension by the scaffolded application of Predicting, Clarifying, Questioning, and Summarizing as reading strategies, students assume the roles of both the learner and the teacher, the goal is to apply the strategies independently as they read so they can make sense of the text

Question 21

collaboration

Answer 21

a philosophy about how to relate to others- how to learn and work, can collaborate without cooperation

Question 22

cooperation

Answer 22

a way of working with others to attain a shared goal, positive effects on student’s emphathy, tolerance for differences, feelings of acceptance, friendships, self-confidence, awareness of the perspectives of others, higher-level reasoning, problem solving, and attendance, formal cooperative learning is students working togehter to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly specific tasks and assignments

Question 23

cooperative learning

Answer 23

situations in which elaboration, interpretation, explanation, and argumentation are integral to the activity of the group and where learning is supported by other individuals, highly structured (worksheet, etc) to ill-structured (true group tasks), must be well planned, students need to be prepared to work in groups, and teachers expectations for the task have to be explicitly stated, five main elements: positive interdependence, promotive interaction, individual accountability, collaborative and social skills, group processing, excellent for ESL individuals

Question 24

reciprocal questioning

Answer 24

students work in pairs or triads to ask and answer questions about lesson material, form of cooperative learning, teacher provides question stems, and then students are taught how to develop specific questions on the lesson material using the generic question stems

Question 25

jigsaw classroom

Answer 25

a learning process/form of cooperative learning in which each student is part of a group and each group member is given part of the material to be learned by the whole group, students become “expert” on their piece and then teach it to the others in their group

Question 26

structured controversy

Answer 26

piaget: developing knowledge requires cognitive conflict, students work in pairs within their four person cooperative groups to research a particular controversy, each pair researches the issue, develops a pro/con position, presents their position and evidence to the other pair, discusses the issue, then reverses the position and argues for the other perspective

Question 27

psychological/individual/cognitive constructivism

Answer 27

(central idea 1) the idea that individuals construct their own cognitive structures as they interpret their experiences in particular situations, concerned with how individuals build up certain elements of their cognitive or emotional apparatus, study of individual knowledge, belief, self-concept, identity

Question 28

social constructivism

Answer 28

(central idea 2) social interaction, cultural tools, and activity shape individual development and learning, vygotsky, learning means belonging to a group and participating in the social construction of knowledge

Question 29

participatory appropriation

Answer 29

occurs with cognitive apprenticeships, students appropriate the knowledge, skills, and values involved in doing the tasks