Constructivism

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Constructivism

• Steve Flaherty

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Bangert,Seven Principles of Good Practice A
Framework for Evaluating On-Line Teaching

• Constructivism
• Learners construct meaning and knowledge from
  their experiences
• Teaching should guide learners to create
  knowledge through interaction and authentic
  learning experiences
• Key Features Active Learning, Authentic
  instructional Tasks, Collaboration Among
  Students, Diverse and Multiple Learning Formats

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BangertSeven Principles

• Student-Faculty Contact
• Cooperation Among Students
• Active Learning
• Prompt Feedback
• Time on Task
• High Expectations
• Respect for Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

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Vanderburg, Reviewing Research on Teaching
Writing Based on Vygotskys Theories What we can
Learn

• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) the distance
  between the actual development level as
  determined by independent problem-solving and the
  level of potential development as determined
  through problem solving under adult guidance
  (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86)

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Vanderburg, Scaffolding

• Vygotsky (1978) argued that advanced individuals
  use language in social interactions to develop
  and redevelop thought by scaffolding less
  advanced individuals through ZPD

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Vygotsky, Hayes, Flower, Dyson (Britton)

• Vygotskys Inner Speech Children use verbal
  interactions (ZPD) to develop and inner voice
  that monitors the learning of new tasks and
  concepts. (Vanderburg)
• Hayes, Flower Planning, translating, reviewing
  monitoring process done recursively through
  inner speech (Vanderburg)
• Dyson (Britton) Sea of Talk reflective
  writing behavior due to social interactions that
  support writing participation to create written
  language (Vanderburg)

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Research Findings--Constructivism

• Sperling Secondary school students were more
  apt to interact with teachers who presented
  questions and modeled writing tasks as opposed to
  telling students what was right or wrong.
  (Vanderburg)
• Greene and Smith Students need to be informed
  about concepts such as tone, purpose, key points,
  audience, and syntactic structure without being
  made to feel unintelligent new writers need and
  experienced writer to model arguments

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Research Findings--Constructivism

• Perry et al Struggling students, like advanced
  students, are able to develop their writing
  skills when guided by higher level scaffolding
  small group settings helped teachers to determine
  students level of idea generation and improve it
  with the appropriate guidance. (Vanderburg)
• Dyson Students can foster ideas, create
  organizational formats for papers, and design
  syntactic arrangement by socially interacting
  with peers who are more advanced writers.
  (Vanderburg)

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Constructivism On-Line

• Group Work
• Team Projects
• Matching Skilled and Less Skilled
• Study Groups
• Conferences
• Group Reports
• Learning Communities

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ConstructivismOn-Line

• Students who actively participate in study groups
  develop more than inactive students.
• Teachers who over-direct students can hinder
  students by providing an answer instead
  scaffolding them to be independent writers.
• Neophyte writers do not understand the concept of
  revision but develop this concept by interacting
  with advanced students
• Learning environments must be somewhat structured
  to ensure that participants focus on pertinent
  issues.