Constructivism

Over these last couple of weeks I have come to realize that my approach to teaching as well as the strategies and the activities that I use in my classroom offer my students with a wide variety of learning theories and information that I never really thought about in depth when it comes to what learning approach I take. Dr. Orey talks about how using the constructivist approach allows children to process knowledge in their own way. Each of our minds is unique and we understand things differently and we store that information in different ways in our mind. In the video resource this week, Dr. Orey spoke of how it is important to get students “involved in building stuff” “(Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) in an effort to teach in a constructivist approach. Without thinking about what approach I’ve been using, my classroom has a tremendous amount of opportunities where my students are learning in this way. I was very happy to hear Dr. Orey talk about how power point presentations are a wonderful tool to use to apply this learning theory. Over the last couple of weeks my students have been working in small groups of three to create a power point presentation in which they chose a rock and a mineral that they would research and later give a presentation on. This power point was the first exposure that my students have had with creating something using technology. Each group took time to present their presentations earlier this week. It was amazing to see just how in depth my students went in creating their presentations and how well they did considering they were learning how to use power point for the first time.

One huge project that I’ve done every year which does a wonderful job of giving students a opportunity to build something is the electricity unit. After students are taught about electricity, they work in groups to build simple circuits and later learn how to build parallel and series circuits. By the end of the unit students build their own houses out of cardboard boxes and completely power the house using various circuits that they build using batteries, light bulbs, and wires. Included are switches that will operate the lights. Every year, this experience is the most memorable for students because they enjoy the process required to build something that really gages their interest.

I think taking a constructivist approach to teaching is extremely important because makes students taken ownership of their own learning. Having students work in groups to build something and create something makes learning hands on and when students are hands on with their own learning, now only are they more involved and enjoy it more because they are able to do more but they also learn the material on a deeper level because they are more involved. Students are more likely to remember material they have learned if they have been interactive with it and they have been engaged with what they are learning. Taking a constructionist approach makes the learning environment geared more towards a student centered environment where the teacher acts more as a facilitator. I think that students enjoy learning more this way because it allows them to take ownership and they are able to interact with their peers much more.

References

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.