Constructivism Flashcards
Gijbels et al. 2005
Just in time instruction – learning is self-directed – students get information as they see a need for it. A teacher could deliver a lecture based on student need and it would act as a scaffold.
Our context helps to shape who we are and what we know (Cobb, 1994, Packer * Goiceochea, 2000; Wertsch, 1998; Bruner, 1990)
Ontology – packer and G, duffy and Cunningham (mind as rhizome)
Windschitl 2002
Implementing constructivist instruction –
Is more difficult than one might think –
Four frames of reference of dilemmas –
Conceptual – understanding c’ism
Pedagogical – complex curriculum and learning demands in c’ism
Cultural – changing classroom roles and expectations
Political delimmas – resistance from stakeholders
Aren’t any widely accepted models that are broad instructional principles
Cognitive vs. social or cultural emphases (piaget/vygotsky)
Difficult to train students in how to work together – interpersonal dynamics that are effective for group sense-making and negotiation of meaning
Patterns of communication are different in different cultures – classrooms have traditionally been organized to pass on “conventional wisdom” that ignores the knowledge, culture, and wisdom of large groups and ignores the knowledge, culture, and wisdom of large groups of people representing the less powerful gender, races, languages, and ethnicities – must utilize what students know and how they communicate as bridges to learning rather than deficits!
School reform is a complex endeavor that includes both sociocultural processes and histories of the institutions and the people involved.
If a teacher is an objectivitist AM teacher, then even if they use inquiry instruction, they will still be trying to get students to one truth.
Duffy & Orrill 2001
The constructivist learning environment is rich with questions and well-reasoned answers. The process is as important as the product. Teacher’s expertise lies in understanding the important things that define a field as well as how to get students to become active participants in the field. (think like a scientist)
Environments – collaborative, resources rich, wide variety of materials, uses technology
Knowledge is not acquired. It is always situated. Learning is goal driven. Personally relevant Learning is social Methods – inquiry based PBL Jasper Woodbury (Vanderbilt) CSILE (scardmalia and bereiter)
Teacher is the expert inquirer, not the subject matter expert
Promotes reflection in students
Thayer-Bacon 2000
Constructive thinkers=critical thinkers
Traditional models of critical thinkers – analyze arguments, define terms, seek clarity, judge sources, use logical induction and deduction. Epistemic agency – don’t need interaction with others to attain knowledge.
Rely on the mind – body is a distractor that gets in the way
Traditional idea of knowledge – knowledge is a product to be measured and quantified, but not a process, separate from us as knowers, one truth
New model of constructive thinking –students learn with the aid of others, that learning is a social affair. Individuals in relation with others, perspective taking. Body mind connection – emotional and physical interactions with learning (hunger, nervousness).
Assessments are varied – used to assess mastery, not diminish confidence and de-value.
No one is completely objective or subjective.
Knowledge and people cannot be separated.
Rejects realism (knowledge is separate from knowers) – ambraces James’s radical empiricism and Dewey’s naturalism.
False distinctions – between relativism and absolutism, between subjectivity and objectivity
Anti-Dualist
Knower learns by doing (Dewey)
What is the distinction between public and private self
“transactive, sociopolitical process with others” – knowledge is created this way p. 143
Packer & Goicoechea (2000)
Ontology, dualism, Cobb-like
Subject and an independent world – that’s the dualism
Social const – coming to be identities in activities = learning – that is ontology
Piaget – how we come to know –epistemology
“the constructivist perspective attends to epistemological processes and structures that the sociocultural perspective is able to locate in an ontological process, and so trace their cultural and historical genesis.” P. 235
dualisms are developed, things start out undualist
School is a site for the production of persons –identity is developed – important that they are active participants in the classroom, not passive receivers
Maddox & Cummings 1999
similarities and differences between piaget and vygotsky – more similarities than differences
Egocentric speech – piaget believed it had no role in development – was an in ability to differentiate self from others.
Vygotsky – self-directed speech is a valuable problem-solving function, and it directs thinking, changes to inner speech as gets older.
Piaget focused on child became a self, vygotsky focused on how child became a part of society.
Vygotsky – experiences produces internal structures
Piaget – experiences activated mental processes (innate ones)
Both considered socialization important for the child
Constructivist literature uses a lot of jargon and maybe terms that are inappropriate for younger children – hypothesize, not right for young children – deep thinking, analyzing, multiple perspectives, etc
Constructivism means too many things to too many people
Airasian & Walsh 1997
cautions about teaching constructivist –
C’ism is an epistemology, it is descriptive as a model, not prescriptive
All knowledge is constructed, people create knowledge between prior knowledge and new ideas or situations – knowledge is not independent of the knower
C’ism is not a unitary viewpoint – Piagetian (individual constructivism), sociocultural – social constructivism – everything is constructed within a context, a milieu in which a person functions - individual doesn’t act independently of his/her context
School systems want to promote higher level learning outcomes – this is why it is embraced right now
Be careful, because it doesn’t mean that application is widespread or systemically in the classroom. No single teaching method out to be used exclusively. Memorization and rote learning are still useful. Just needs to be at the right time and for the right things. Takes a lot of time in the classroom – listening to perspectives and understandings – trade-off between coverage and depth.
Constructivism does not mean “anything goes”! Has to be VIABLE constructions!
Garrison 1997
PRAGMATIC
Criticizes von glasersfeld (Piagetian CC) and says it’s subjective and dualist. Likes Dewey and pragmatism – social constructivism
Duffy & Cunningham 1996
PRAGMATIC Explores many aspects of design – current const. persp., pragmatism, viability, review of CC and SC, mind as rhizome.
Constructivism means many things
Activity in context
Can never be sure that meaning is shared – just agree to agree
John Dewey – greatest proponent – of situated and learning by doing
Learner centered
Cognitive constructivist vs. social constructivist
Cog – in the head, individual psych processes
SC – individual in social interaction, acculturation
Learning is active from this perspective
Metaphors of the mind –
Mind as computer CIP
Mind as brain – connectionism
Mind as rhizome – THEIR IDEA – based of of MaB – but it’s not dualistic at all. –MINDS as distributed social cultural historical constitutional
Learning – change in relationship to the community – changes in membership (LAVE & WENGER 1991)
Multiple perspectives, all knowledge is constructed
All knowledge is context dependent, so learning should occur in contexts to which it is relevant
Appropriation rather than internalization (ROGOFF, 1990)
Learning is mediated by tools and signs
Metacognition is the ultimate human accomplishment – be reflexive
How methods of instruction are implemented depends on the perspective on learning – reviews several methods:
Discovery learning – not finding something hidden, but inventing – own construction of something – learning to learn
ZPD – The distance between the actual developmental level of the child as determined by independent problem solving under adult guidance and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. – look at it as how the environment and the culture affords things to them that wouldn’t be possible without
Scaffolding – not just helping the student acquire knowledge, but is the learning environment in which the learner grows
Cog App – focus on authentic demands – but Lave and Wenger (1991) is a good view for MAR – LPP
Coaching – guide on the side – bi-directional relationship
Technology integral – expanding cognition –
BOILS DOWN TO PBL – supports their MAR view
Students have to analyze task, figure out the important info needed, make steps, negotiate in groups, need for info is present before info is given. It’s authentic and it’s MC, collaborative – one example was Jigsaw
Greeno, Collins, & Resnick 1996
Perspectives on learning –
Empiricist, Rationalist, Pragmatist
Empiricist – Behaviorist – Locke and Thorndike –
Associativism
Behaviorism
Connectionism
Knowing = organized accumulation of associations and components of skills
Learning – process in which associations and skills are acquired
Rationalist – cognitive – Descartes and Piaget
Gestalt Psychology – structure of knowledge
Constructivism – piaget
Symbolic information processing – Chomsky, simon, newell
(there is crossover in to associative area because of organized patterns in cognitive activity
Reasoning, critical thinking, comprehending language, solving problems – knowing
Learning – constructive process of conceptual growth, reorganization of concepts, MC
Pragmative – sociohistoric, situative
Ethnography, ecological psych (constraints and affordances)
Knowing – attribute of groups and individuals who are participating in groups
Knowledge – distributed in the context
Learning – draw from Lave and Wenger – attribute of individuals who participate in the communicates PP
Savery & Duffy 1996
Each person constructs their own understanding, and knowledge is socially negotiated. Knowledge does not represent one objective truth.
Have to make viable ideas in order to be accepted by the community
Ill structured tasks are complex and holistic – an important characteristic of PBL
AM to PM
Lave – identity development in communities of practice
Social
In the classroom we have Practice Fields (not really communities of practice)
Deals with the issue of what kind of community one develops an identity into in school – bracketed off from the real community of practice, and really it’s to get grades, etc.
Have to try to bring the community aspect into the school setting
Community of schooled adults, not community of practitioners
Engineering communities of learners in the classroom
Grabinger 1996
Instructional Design – REALS
Rich environments for active learning – REAL
Doesn’t “transfer knowledge to students” - engages student in collaborative process of constructing knowledge as a natural consequence of experiences in authentic environments
Problems with conventional approaches to schooling that lead to inert knowledge (inert knowledge, whitehead 1929 – acquired in abstraction not relevant to present experiences – can’t be transferred to novel situations and remains inert, can’t be applies) Breadth vs. depth Oversimplified, unrealistic problems Passive learners Inauthentic evaluation Unmotivating
Old Assumptions about learners and learning –
People easily transfer knowledge
Learners are “receivers of knowledge”
Learning is behavioristic
Learners are blank slates
Skills and knowledge are best acquired independent of realistic contexts for use.
New assumptions about learners and learning –
It is difficult to transfer knowledge – content and context learning is important
Learners are active constructors
Learning is cognitive and constantly growing and evolving
Learners bring their own needs and experiences to learning
Assessment needs to be more holilstic/authentic
Skills and knowledge need to be learned within realistic contexts
Contends that LSE’s (learner support environments) – computer micro-worlds – limit the concept of learning environment
Coding specificity – the retrieval of something is better when cues relevant to later retrieval of info is encoded along with the material learned
Need to develop 2 kinds of links internal and external
Example of a REAL environment –
CFT – cognitive flexibility theory – Jacobson & Spiro, 1992)
Ill-structured domains – law, education, medicine – several cases and rich examples, multiple forms of knowledge representation – several kinds of media,
Links abstract concepts to case examples
Authentic tasks – must be realistic in terms of cognitive, physical, and social rquirements
Authenticity is important because it more relevance= more ownership, develops deeper and richer knowledge structures, encourages collaboration and negotiation.
Anchored instruction (CGTV) – Jasper Woodbury 1992
Reciprocal Teaching
PBL – activate prior knowledge, cooperative learning
Learning is generative in a REAL
Cognitive apprenticeship Collins et al 1991, Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989)
Six main characteristics of REALs –
- Constructivist heritage
- Authentic instruction
- Student responsibility
- Collaborative learning
- Generative learning activities
- Authentic Assessment
REALs have been found in research to be more effective for content learning and problem-solving skills than conventional methods
Jasper Series (CTGV 1991) – James Pellegrino
- math attitudes improved (although no greater desire to study math than the control groups
- Larger increases in performance and demonstrated greater problem-solving skills
- Significantly more skilled at IDing the goal of the problem and breaking it down into smaller parts or subgoals
Reciprocal Teaching
- Palinscar and Klenk 1992 did a study and found that children with learning disabilities showed significant benefit from reciprocal teaching strategy in a set of texts covering related science concepts – increasing comprehension, id of theme, and classifying.
Transfer – REALS help increase problem solving skills, making info active rather than inert, complex real word probs – facilitates transfer (CTGV 1993)
Some issues – qual vs. quant research
Media rather than method – some argue certain media encourage a certain type of reasoning
Learning strategies worth noting to use during research to see a child’s thinking–
- think-alouds
- written-question generation
- ranking and classification techniques
- concept maps
- analysis of recordings
Bednar, Cunningham, Duffy, Perry 1995
PRAGMATIC
Reviews traditional cognitive science as objectivist
Learning is constructed in the Constructive Cog science -
Learning through cog app, real-world problems, and using the tools available in the situation
Process of instructional design from this perspective:
- analysis of content - the content can’t be specified
o define a core body of knowledge but not the boundaries of what might be relevant
o portray tasks, but not the structure of learning the task
- analysis of learners
o ID skills of the learner
o The pool of learners
• What is the skills of reflexivity, not remembering of facts
o Objectives
• Search for authentic tasks and let the more specific objectives emerge and be realized as they appropriate to the individual leaner in solving the real world task
- Develop learning environments that create opportunity for learning – learning and performance objectives are not internal to the content
Domain
Must have modeling and coaching students toward expert performance (cog app.)
Have students create cases from multiple perspectives
Evaluation – use the content domain in authentic tasks – ability to defend judgements and explain and also to use MC to be reflexive
Cobb 1994
Pragmatic – but still dualist
Talks about how math learning can be seen in both SC and CC traditions and they go together – Pragmatic (both tell half of a good story – quote)
Wants to use theoretical pragmatism – both of the perspecitves – LPP (legitimate peripheral participation) and individual constructions are of value
Honebein, Duffy, Fishman (1993)
Design CLE – Apprenticeship Authentic, ownership, complex Authentic in relationship to the activity. - ownership by the learner o MC skills - Project based - Multiple perspectives o Collaborative learning Context must be complex – gestalt view – “understanding is indexed by experience” – the kids that learned fractions by creating a program on the computer to teach younger kids fractions - but must be in the ZPD - must be varied
