The Foundations of constructivist teaching and learning and the 5E Lesson PLan

1
The Foundations of constructivist teaching and
learningandthe 5E Lesson PLan

• Engineering the Future Workshop - SDSU

byJudy Vondruska
2
Lesson Plan Development

• What works in helping students learn?

3
Foundation of Constructivism

• Has been around for over 100 years
• Based on research/ideas of
• John Dewey
• knowledge emerges only from situations in which
  learners have to draw them out of meaningful
  experiences (see Democracy and Education, 1916
  and Experience and Education, 1938)
• Jean Piaget
• To understand is to discover, or reconstruct by
  rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied
  with if in the future individuals are to be
  formed who are capable of production and
  creativity and not simply repetition (To
  Understand is to Invent, J. Piaget, 1973)
• Jerome Bruner
• learning is a social process, whereby students
  construct new concepts based on current
  knowledge.
• Lev. S Vygotsky
• Learning and development is a social,
  collaborative activity

4
Five Characteristics of Constructivist Teaching

1. Posing problems of emerging relevance to learners
   
2. Seeking and valuing students' points of view
3. Structuring learning around primary concepts
4. Adapting curriculum to address students'
   suppositions
5. Assessing student learning in the context of
   teaching

In Search of Understanding The Case for
Constructivist Classrooms by Martin and
Jacqueline Brooks' 1993 An ASCD publication
(ISBN 0871202115)
5
5Es of Constructivism

• Engage
• Explore
• Explain
• Elaborate
• Evaluate

BSCS 5E Learning Cycle http//www.bscs.org/sites
/default/files/_legacy/BSCS_5E_Instructional_Model
-Executive_Summary_0.pdf
6
5Es of Constructivism

• Engage
• make connections between past and present
  learning experiences
• students becomes mentally engaged in the concept,
  process, or skill to be learned.
• Teacher Action (Conservation of Energy lesson
  plan)
• Example How many of you have every been on a
  roller coaster? When and where? What was it
  like? Show videoclip of being on a
  rollercoaster.

7
Top Thrill Dragster
420 ft tall0-120 mph in 4 sdrop speed 120 mph
http//tinyurl.com/ttdragster
8
5Es of Constructivism

• Explore
• students actively explore their environment or
  manipulate materials.
• provides students with common base of experiences
  
• students identify and develop concepts,
  processes, and skills
• Teacher Action (Conservation of Energy lesson
  plan)
• exploratory lab activities to develop a feel for
  relationships (limited data collection, if any)
  web searches, tours, etc.
• PRISMS and CRYSTALS curriculums had a lot of
  exploratory labs
• Example PhET Skate Park activity or
  Funderstanding Coaster

9
Looped Rollercoasters

• http//www.funderstanding.com/educators/coaster/

10
5Es of Constructivism

• Explain
• learner begins to verbalize their conceptual
  understanding or to demonstrate new skills or
  behaviors
• teacher introduces formal terms, definitions, and
  explanations for concepts, processes, skills, or
  behaviors.
• help students make connnections
• Teacher Action (Conservation of Energy lesson
  plan)
• Using exploration activity to define and expand
  use of terminology ask students to relate what
  they saw and connections betweens types of energy
• Have student groups provide another example of
  each type of energy
• Introduce equations

11

• Steel Dragon 2000 in Mie, Japan
• 306 ft drop (convert to meters)
• Calculate speed at bottom of drop
• Total Energy at Top Total Energy at Bottom
• PEtop KEtop PEbottom KEbottom
• PEtop KEbottom
• mgh 1/2 mv2
• v 42.6 m/s 95.4 mph!!!!!

12
5Es of Constructivism

• Elaborate
• students expand on the concepts they have
  learned, make connections to other related
  concepts, and apply their understandings to the
  world around them
• these connections often lead to further inquiry
  and new understandings
• Teacher Action (Conservation of Energy lesson
  plan)
• Hot wheels car lab with loop. Calculate
  theoretical height needed for car to make the
  loop. Determine the actual height and account for
  the difference. From the actual height,
  calculate the speed of the car at the bottom of
  the ramp.

13
5Es of Constructivism

• Evaluate
• encourage learners to assess their understanding
  and abilities
• allows the teacher to determine if the learner
  has attained understanding of concepts and skills
  
• evidences of learning serves to guide the teacher
  in further lesson planning and may signal the
  need for modification and change of direction
• Teacher Action (Conservation of Energy lesson
  plan)
• Students calculate initial speed needed for
  successful pole-vault attempt

14
Womens Pole Vault Record

• Yelena Isinbayeva - Russia - 4.89 meters
• Fall 2009
• World Record in Feet?
• 16 ft 7 in (5.06 m)
• How fast did she have to run to achieve this
  record assuming she had a velocity of
• 1.0 m/s over the bar? (Assume W 130 lbs)
• What was her KE as she began her vault?

15
Pole vault
16
Another viewpoint

• Considerations from brain research

17
The brain is...
18
Patterns

• The brain is always trying to make sense of its
  surroundings
• The brain is always looking for patterns,
• trying to fit new learning in with previous
  learning
• trying to connect concepts with each other
• trying to resolve conflicts between inputs
• The brain is working to build upon existing
  neural networks, connecting with new information
  and ideas

19
Memorize the following.
You have 6 seconds!!!
A B C D E
F G H I
20
Got it? Okay..
21
Did you get it????
22
Got it? Okay..
Spell the word BEACH in symbols.
23
In addition to searching for patterns

• the brain has a limit to the amount of
  information it can process at one time
• helping to group (pattern) or connect information
  together allows for larger amounts of information
  to be taken in

24
Memorize these
5184632948
?
2598713
?
LS DTVF BIJ FKU SA
?
25
M-Space Chunking
Short-term memory has limits and students need
time to process information

• Remember chunking as a means of helping students
  learn material
• group material into smaller coherent patterns
• Research has shown the use of chunking and using
  patterns in our working memory has a significant
  impact on our memory and our learning potential.

Example a phone number Area code is one chunk,
second three digits are another, and the last
four numbers are each a chunk resulting in six
total chunks.
26
Use mind-mapping for patterning

• Assists in organization by connecting new
  learning to the learner's personal experience.
• Use of mind maps allow learners to tap intotheir
  unique neural organization.
• Have students use mindmaps to introduce
  themselves, as a means of review at the beginning
  of class or prior to an exam
• Include words, color, pictures
• Establishes multiple pathways in the brain for
  later retrieval

27
http//www.st-ansgar.k12.ia.us/SCHWIESOW/portfolio
/reflections/sciencemap.jpg
28
The 5es and Lesson Plan Development
29
The 5es and Lesson Plan Development Daily
Group Work

• After each day of the workshop (Tuesday-Friday)
  your group will be asked to design a 5e lesson
  plan incorporating an activity from the day
• The group should discuss the overall plan and
  each person should take on 1-2 aspects of the
  lesson plan
• Post lesson plan components on designated wiki
  page
• Each day, you should take on different aspect of
  the 5es
• Should groups change throughout the week?

30
The 5es and Lesson Plan Development Individual

• Develop two 5e lesson plans you plan to implement
  during the school year.
• Download MS Word document from Wiki
• Want to see incorporation of activities from the
  week but also free to include others
• Submit to Wiki by 10 pm, June 30th