Constructivist PMI

Myself and Michaela Garratt have done a PMI review on the constructivist learning theory. Since she lives in Mackay and myself in Rockhampton we exchanged ideas via emails, txt and skype chat.

I found this learning theory very interesting and think there is a lot of merit in teachers adopting this method of teaching. Like many learning theories there is many pluses and minuses and these have been outlined below

In my own teaching and learning I am hoping to take the good points from each learning theory and adopt them into my classrooms. 

Constructivist PMI

It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences

Plus

• Involves a lot of experiments, real-world problem solving to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing

•     Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep learning, the students learn HOW TO LEARN. That is s skill is learns will be able to use throughout there life

•  Constructivism transforms the student from a passive recipient of information to an active participant in the learning process

•   Children learn more, and enjoy learning more when they are actively involved, rather than passive listeners.

•  Constructivist learning is transferable. In constructivist classrooms, students create organizing principles that they can take with them to other learning settings.

•  Constructivism gives students ownership of what they learn

•  By grounding learning activities in an authentic, real-world context, constructivism stimulates and engages students. Students in constructivist classrooms learn to question things and to apply their natural curiosity to the world.

•  Constructivism promotes social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas. This is essential to success in the real world,

Minus

•  Having to understand the students' preexisting conceptions, takes a long time

•  Students work primarily in groups. Students who are lazy or just relay on others to do all the work can just float by without being found out

•  Students have ideas that they may later see were invalid, incorrect,

•  The new information doesn't match previous knowledge, and it is ignored

•  Harder to test/ assess learning outcomes.

•   It's elitist. Critics say that constructivism and other "progressive" educational theories have been most successful with children from privileged backgrounds who are fortunate in having outstanding teachers, committed parents, and rich home environments. They argue that disadvantaged children, lacking such resources, benefit more from more explicit instruction.

•   Social constructivism leads to "group think." Critics say the collaborative aspects of constructivist classrooms tend to produce a "tyranny of the majority," in which a few students' voices or interpretations dominate the group's conclusions, and dissenting students are forced to conform to the emerging consensus.

•  There is little hard evidence that constructivist methods work. Critics say that constructivists, by rejecting evaluation through testing and other external criteria, have made themselves unaccountable for their students' progress.

Interesting

•  Constructivism does not dismiss the active role of the teacher or the value of expert knowledge.

•  Constructivism modifies that role, so that teachers help students to construct knowledge rather than to reproduce a series of facts

•  The focus tends to shift from the teacher to the students