Constructivism and Situated Learning

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Constructivism and Situated Learning
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Questions to answer

• What is Constructivism?
• Constructivism and Cognitive Theories
• What is Situated Learning?
• How is a constructivist's classroom different
  from a traditional classroom?
• Do students learn better in a constructivist's
  classroom? If yes, why?
• Is situated learning better than the traditional
  way of learning? Why?

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What is Knowledge?

• Knowledge as an integral, self-sufficient
  substance
• theoretically independent of the situations in
  which it is learned and used
• Learning is the transfer of this substance, which
  comprises abstract. decontextualized formal
  concepts

• Knowledge is developed and deployed
• Not separable from or ancillary to learning and
  cognition.
• An integral part of what is learned. Situations
  might be said to co-produce knowledge through
  activity.
• Learning and cognition, are fundamentally situated

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Cognitive Theories

• Two types of knowledge procedure and declarative
• Knowledge can be divided into pieces, which can
  then be transferred to students
• Knowledge can be modeled, e.g., production
  system.
• Learning is the transfer of knowledge pieces and
  the structure to the students.

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Constructivism

• humans can only clearly understand what they have
  themselves constructed (Neapolitan philosopher
  Giambattista Vico, 18th century)
• Dewey
• education depended on action.
• Knowledge and ideas emerged only from a situation
  in which learners had to draw them out of
  experiences that had meaning and importance to
  them
• These situations had to occur in a social
  context, such as a classroom, where students
  joined in manipulating materials and, thus,
  created a community of learners who built their
  knowledge together.

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• Piaget's constructivism
• Fundamental basis of learning "To understand is
  to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery,
• 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 reach an understanding of basic phenomena,
  children have to go through stages in which they
  accept ideas they may later see as not truthful
  (assimilation and accommodation). In autonomous
  activity, children must discover relationships
  and ideas in classroom situations that involve
  activities of interest to them.
• Understanding is built up step by step through
  active involvement.

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• Vygotsky
• children learn scientific concepts out of a
  "tension" between their everyday notions and
  adult concepts.
• Presented with a preformed concept from the adult
  world, the child will only memorize what the
  adult says about the idea. To make it her
  property the child must use the concept and link
  that use to the idea as a first presented to her.
  
• The relation between everyday notions and
  scientific concepts was not a straight
  development. Instead the prior conceptions and
  the introduced scientific concepts are interwoven
  and influence each other as the child works out
  her own ideas from the generalizations that she
  had already and that have been introduced to her.

http//www.sedl.org/scimath/compass/v01n03/underst
and.html
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• J. S. Bruner
• learning is an active process in which learners
  construct new ideas or concepts based upon their
  current/past knowledge.
• The learner selects and transforms information,
  constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions,
  relying on a cognitive structure to do so.
• Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models)
  provides meaning and organization to experiences
  and allows the individual to "go beyond the
  information given".

http//www.artsined.com/teachingarts/Pedag/Constru
ctivist.html
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Constructivism

• Mind is NOT a tabula rasa (a blank tablet upon
  which a picture can be painted).
• NOT simply absorbing ideas spoken at them by
  teachers
• Not internalizing them through repeated rote
  practice (cognitive theories skill acquisition)
• Learning is
• Assimilation assimilate new information to
  simple, pre-existing notions,
• Accommodation modify their understanding in
  light of new data.
• Ideas gain in complexity and power
• Critical insight developed with with appropriate
  support.

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there is no such thing as knowledge "out there"
independent of the knower, but only knowledge we
construct for ourselves as we learn.
Learning is not understanding the "true" nature
of things, nor is it (as Plato suggested)
remembering dimly perceived perfect ideas, but
rather a personal and social construction of
meaning out of the bewildering array of
sensations which have no order or structure
besides the explanations (and I stress the
plural) which we fabricate for them.
http//www.artsined.com/teachingarts/Pedag/Dewey.h
tml
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Two Viewpoints
Cognitive Constructivism
Social Constructivism

• Locus of mental activity is deep within human
  mind.
• Learning is through a uniform sequence of
  internal reorganizations.
• Learning promoted by accelerating the
  reorganization through examining coherence of
  current thinking.
• Environment is a testbed for the coherence of
  built-up internal representations.

• Acts or events always unfold in a context.
• Learning is through a dialectical process
  involving interaction with environment.
• The reality is always in a state of
  indeterminacy.
• The learner carves out islands of (relatively
  stable) meaning in their daily existence.

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Construct Knowledge

• gathering information and experiencing the world
  around her.
• construction of new understanding as a
  combination of prior learning, new information,
  and readiness to learn.
• Individuals make choices about what new ideas to
  accept and how to fit them into their established
  views of the world.

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The Problem of Traditional Schools

• mostly teacher to student communication
• over-rely on textbooks
• discourage student from working together
• student thinking undervalued
• a fixed, objective world based on conventional
  understanding

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The Result

• success according to performance instead of
  learning
• poor recall of concepts over time
• little long-term understanding
• little ability to apply

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Constructivists Classroom

• The constructivist teacher sets up problems and
  monitors student exploration, guides the
  direction of student inquiry and promotes new
  patterns of thinking. Classes can take unexpected
  turns as students are given the autonomy to
  direct their own explorations
• Constructivist teachers refer to raw data,
  primary sources, and interactive materials to
  provide experiences for their students rather
  than relying solely on another's set of data.

Constructivism in the classroom Constructivism
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In a Constructivist Classroom...

• Student autonomy and initiative are accepted and
  encouraged.
• By respecting students' ideas and encouraging
  independent thinking, teachers help students
  attain their own intellectual identity. Students
  who frame questions and issues and then go about
  analyzing and answering them take responsibility
  for their own learning and become problem
  solvers.
• The teacher asks open-ended questions and allows
  wait time for responses.
• Reflective thought takes time and is often built
  on others' ideas and comments. The ways teachers
  ask questions and the ways students respond will
  structure the success of student inquiry.

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• Higher-level thinking is encouraged.
• The constructivist teacher challenges students to
  reach beyond the simple factual response. He
  encourages students to connect and summarize
  concepts by analyzing, predicting, justifying,
  and defending their ideas.
• Students are engaged in dialogue with the teacher
  and with each other.
• Social discourse helps students change or
  reinforce their ideas. If they have the chance to
  present what they think and hear others' ideas,
  students can build a personal knowledge base that
  they understand. Only when they feel comfortable
  enough to express their ideas will meaningful
  classroom dialogue occur.

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• Students are engaged in experiences that
  challenge hypotheses and encourage discussion.
• When allowed to make predictions, students often
  generate varying hypotheses about natural
  phenomena. The constructivist teacher provides
  ample opportunities for students to test their
  hypotheses, especially through group discussion
  of concrete experiences.
• The class uses raw data, primary sources,
  manipulatives, physical, and interactive
  materials.
• The constructivist approach involves students in
  real-world possibilities, then helps them
  generate the abstractions that bind phenomena
  together.
• These suggestions are adapted from In Search of
  Understanding The Case for Constructivist
  Classrooms by Jacqueline G. Brooks and Martin G.
  Brooks (Alexandria, VA Association for
  Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1993)

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Dewey, 1930s
Are we there?

• Many practitioners for developing programs
  reflecting their enthusiasm much more than their
  understanding.
• Some teachers, carried freedom nearly to the
  point of anarchy and allowed students
  unrestrained freedom of action and speech, of
  manners and lack of manners.

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An Example

• Form 3?? Statistics

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Questions for discussion

• What did the students learn?
• Any signs of creating knowledge? What knowledge
  created?
• Through which ways that the knowledge was
  learned?
• What was the teachers role?
• Any signs of student creating hypotheses, .
• Students motivated?
• Collaboration found? Results generated?
• ..

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?????(Situated Learning)

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html
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Concerns of Situated Learning

• concerned with how learning occurs everyday.
• not a recommendation that teaching be "situated"
  or "relevant."
• a theory about the nature of human knowledge,
  claiming that knowledge is dynamically
  constructed as we conceive of what is happening
  to us, talk and move

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Situated Learning Lave http//tip.psychology.org/l
ave.html

• Learners become involved in a "community of
  practice" which embodies certain beliefs and
  behaviors to be acquired.
• As the beginner or newcomer moves from the
  periphery of this community to its center, they
  become more active and engaged within the culture
  and hence assume the role of expert or oldtimer.
• Situated learning is usually unintentional rather
  than deliberate. -- "legitmate peripheral
  participation."

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Situated Learning (Jonassen, 1994)

• Occurring when students work on authentic and
  realistic tasks that reflect the real world.
• Knowledge content is determined by it's real
  world counterpart and context.
• If knowledge is decontexturalized, then it
  becomes, the student learns a new concept but is
  unable to utilize it since there is no realistic
  context for its use.
• Key components of situated cognition
  apprenticeship, collaboration, reflection,
  coaching, multiple practice, articulation of
  learning skills, realistic representations, and
  technology (McLellan, 1996).

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Cognitive apprenticeship

• supports learning in a domain by enabling
  students to acquire, develop and use cognitive
  tools in authentic domain activity.
• Learning, both outside and inside school,
  advances through collaborative social interaction
  and the social construction of knowledge.

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Situated Learning(J. Lave)

• http//tip.psychology.org/lave.html

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A General Theory of Knowledge Acquisition

• a teaching content in an abstract, out of context
  way results in inert knowledge
• knowledge to be useful must be situated in a
  relevant or "authentic" context
• cannot be taught in the abstract. It must be
  taught in context. It is situated
• learners can often master complex and difficult
  material through cognitive apprenticeships

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Situated Learning

• knowledge to be active should be learned
• in a meaningful context
• through active learning
• knowledge is to a great degree a product of the
  activity, context, and culture in which it is
  used
• usually unintentional rather than deliberate
• support both problem solving and anchored
  instruction as instructional strategies

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Technology-based Situated Learning

• Situated learning has been applied in the context
  of technology-based learning activities for
  schools that focus on problem-solving skills
• Cognition Technology Group at Vanderbilt (March
  1993). Anchored instruction and situated
  cognition revisited. Educational Technology,
  33(3), 52-70

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Anchored Instruction

• http//peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ctrs/ltc/

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A Teaching Strategy

• Students actively engaged in learning by
  situating or anchoring instruction around an
  interesting topic.
• The learning environments are designed to provoke
  the kinds of thoughtful engagement that helps
  students develop effective thinking skills and
  attitudes that contribute to effective problem
  solving and critical thinking

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Principles of Anchored Instruction

• Learning and teaching activities should be
  designed around an "anchor" which is often a
  story, adventure, or situation that includes a
  problem or issue to be dealt with that is of
  interest to the students
• Instructional materials should include rich
  resources students can explore as they try to
  decide how to solve a problem (e.g., interactive
  videodisc programs)

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Learning Perspectives

• an emphasis of cognitive constructivists
• Piagets radical constructivism
• an emphasis of social constructivists
• group or collaborative problem solving

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Jasper Woodbury programs

• http//peabody.vanderbilt.edu/projects/funded/jasp
  er/Jasperhome.html

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The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury

• 12 videodisc-based adventures (plus video based
  analogs, extensions and teaching tips) that focus
  on mathematical problem finding and problem
  solving
• each adventure provides multiple opportunities
  for problem solving, reasoning, communication and
  making connections to other areas such as
  science, social studies, literature and history

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The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury

• adventure that ends in a complex challenge
• like good detective novels where all the data
  necessary to solve the adventure (plus additional
  data that are not relevant to the solution) are
  embedded in the story
• To solve the challenge, the students use
  problem-solving skills, mathematics concepts and
  skills, and the laserdisc to find information
  that was presented as part of the story

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Objectives

• to bridge the gap between natural learning
  environments and school learning environments
• to be used in typical classroom situations, they
  provide teachers many of the advantages of
  natural learning environments
• To provide a common context for instruction, an
  authentic task, and a chance to see that school
  knowledge can be used to solve real problems (not
  mathematics word problems)

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Design Principles

• Video-based format
• Narrative with realistic problems
• Generative format
• Embedded data design
• Problem complexity
• Pairs of related adventures
• Links across the curriculum

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Generative and Embedded Data Design

• Data needed to solve the overall problem are
  found in the story
• Students must go to the laserdisc for data they
  will use to solve the various subproblems and
  eventually, the overall problem
• the overall problem is a complex one that the
  students must solve by generating and solving the
  interconnected subproblems in order to solve the
  overall problem

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Learning Activities

• begin with a showing of the video
• the class is divided into groups of approximately
  4 students each. Each group then attempts to
  solve the Jasper challenge
• involve returning to the video to gather data and
  mathematical knowledge. it often takes 4 or 5 two
  hour sessions before everyone has prepared a
  solution

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Learning Activities

• When all groups are ready they take turns
  presenting their ideas to the class. Others in
  the class are permitted to challenge the
  assumptions and methods of those presenting, who
  in turn, are expected to defend their solution
• the result is a vigorous, student-led discourse
  about mathematical processes and ideas.
• Most Jasper videos have several acceptable
  solutions, although one is usually arguably
  better than the others
• After the Jasper video has been solved, the
  students reinforce their new knowledge with a
  number of "extension" activities..

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Situated Learning and Word Problems

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Archetypal school activity is very different from
what we have in mind when we talk of authentic
activity, because it is very different from what
authentic practitioners do. When authentic
activities are transferred to the classroom,
their context is inevitably transmuted they
become classroom tasks and part of the school
culture. Classroom procedures, as a result, are
then applied to what have become classroom tasks.
The system of learning and using (and, of course,
testing) thereafter remains hermetically sealed
within the self-confirming culture of the school.
Consequently, contrary to the aim of schooling,
success within this culture often has little
bearing on performance elsewhere. ----
Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning by
JOHN SEELY BROWN ALLAN COLLINS PAUL DUGUID
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Example of Anchored Learning
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Questions for discussion

• Students motivated?
• Effective Learning? In what ways?
• Practical in HK classrooms?
• What can you say about HK students, HK
  classrooms, HK teachers?

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END