Constructivist Learning

The teacher plays a completely different role in constructivist learning. Instead of teaching, they become the questioner. In this style of teaching/learning, students take their ideas and test them on their own. The teacher becomes a supporter/coach that asks questions along the way. By having the students work in groups, like in the videos, they can question, motivate and teach each other. This is one of my favorite lessons that we have done thus far. It concentrates on what I have spoken of many times in the past class lessons, understanding and remembering. I am big fan of hands on work for these reasons and the videos are evidence that these teaching styles are proven to work.

 In the first section of Can we believe our eyes?, the girl did not grasp the concept. But when she dissected the light bulb she figured it out. In the second section the students may have had a little trouble with the first configuration, but once they understood, the rest of the configurations became easier. In the interviews, the students said that they understood how the process actually worked and they could now explain the information on paper. My view has always been to make sure that students understand the lesson, but there is a time issue when you look at the agenda and standards that a teacher is required to cover.  It was reassuring to hear the teacher in the video discuss that it’s okay to go a little slower and let the students understand the material than to just skim through the lessons.

 These videos showed good examples of cooperative learning, discovery learning, guided discovery learning, problem based learning, creative thinking and reciprocal teaching - questioning. You could tell when the students had an “ah ha” moment, and could see that they really understood what they was working on. The videos really showed the positive in constructivist leaning. The video Children See Children Do, shows Bandura’s social cognitive theory at its best. It is also a great reminder to always set positive examples. It reminds me of two signs that one of my teachers had on her wall years ago that said “You never know when you are being looked up to.” and “You never know when you are making a memory.”