Constructivism in Practice
This week we have been studying about the constructivism learning theory. I think it is interesting that we were supposed to write about constructivism instead of constructionism. Dr. Orey states “constructivism is a theory of knowledge stating each individual actively constructs their own meaning. That this is not necessarily important for classroom teachers”. (Laureate 2008) He gave an example for this by saying if someone asked us about the word chair we would all picture something different. This happens because we all had different experiences in our past with chairs. Constructionism on the other hand is the learning theory that says “people learn best when they build an external artifact of something they can share with others”. (Laureate 2008) This makes more sense to me as a classroom teacher because if we can get our students actively engaged in creating the project then they will better learn the content.
I said all that to say, “I think a better title for this week would be constructioNism in practice” since most of the chapter on “Generating and Testing Hypothesis” is about Mrs. Omar having her class generate spreadsheets for savings and investments. Throughout the three different class scenarios they all have to do with students building an external artifact which is the definition of constructionism. “When students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content.” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski 2007) The only way I had ever formerly thought about using hypothesis was during the scientific process. Our students just wrapped up their science fair projects in which they had to then take the data they collected and use some type of technology to incorporate it into their project. We saw this type of data collection happening in Mrs. Schwartz middle school science class and it reminded me of this. But after studying the resources I now realize that we do not just use it during the scientific process but we also generate and test hypothesis on daily occurrences in other aspects of our lives.
Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Instructional Theory vs. Learning Theory Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E.R., Kuhn, M., & Malenowski, K. . (2007). Using technology with classroom
instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Jakob,
ReplyDeleteI am curious as to whether you have had students generate and test hypotheses in your class, and if so, what it involved. When I initially read the chapter and assignment, I didn't think it really fit into a History classroom. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that this is something I use all of the time, I just don't label it as "generating and testing hypotheses." I'm thinking that in your classes, you could have students form hypotheses on which foods are healthiest and then have students research nutritional data. You could include foods that seem healthy, but are actually high in fat, sodium, etc... Many times, students think they are eating healthy but don't look at the labels to see what they are truly eating. This would be a way to make a real-world connection.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI like what you contributed. That is a wonderful idea for incorporating "generating and testing hypotheses". I think the students would we find it interesting to see how much salt is in something like a can of chicken noodle soup that they thought was not to bad for them. Thanks for the wonderful ideas. Have a great weekend.
-Jakob-