Constructivist Learning2008

Constructivist Learning

Educational Psychology

What is Constructivist Learning Theory?

• “The essence of constructivist theory is the idea that learners must individually discover and transform complex information if they are to make it their own.” (p. 243)

• Thus, Constructivist Learning Theory is concerned with:– How learners make (construct) meaning

from their own experiences.– How teachers can organize learning

experiences to aid students in “meaning-making.”

Brain Research & Constructivist Learning• The brain is a complex adaptive systemThe brain is a complex adaptive system

– Perhaps the most potent feature of the Perhaps the most potent feature of the brain is its capacity to function on many brain is its capacity to function on many levels and in many ways simultaneously. levels and in many ways simultaneously.

– Thoughts, emotions, imagination, Thoughts, emotions, imagination, predispositions and physiology operate predispositions and physiology operate concurrently and interactively as the entire concurrently and interactively as the entire system interacts with and exchanges system interacts with and exchanges information with its environment. information with its environment.

– Moreover, there are emergent properties of Moreover, there are emergent properties of the brain as a whole system that can not be the brain as a whole system that can not be recognized nor understood when the parts recognized nor understood when the parts alone are explored.alone are explored.

Brain Research & Constructivist Learning• The Brain is “Plastic”

– Its hard wiring is shaped by the experiences that people have. The brain can “rewire: itself with every new stimulation, experience, and behavior

– There are predetermined sequences of development in childhood, including windows of opportunity for laying down the basic hardware necessary for later learning. This results in tremendous dendrite growth and subsequent “pruning.”

– That is why new languages as well as the arts ought to be introduced to children very early in life.

– And finally, in many respects there is no limit to growth and to the capacities of humans to learn more. Neurons continue to be capable of making new connections throughout life.

Brain Research & Constructivist Learning• The search for meaning is innate.

– In general terms the search for meaning refers to making sense of our experiences.

– This is survival-oriented and basic to the human brain.

– While the ways in which we make sense of our experience change over time, the central drive to do so is life long.

– Something of the extent of human purposes was expressed by Maslow. Thus, the search for meaning ranges from the need to eat and find safety, through the development of relationships and a sense of identity, to an exploration of our potential and the quest for transcendence.

Brain Research & Constructivist Learning• Learning occurs through" patterning".

– In patterning we include schematic maps and categories, both acquired and innate.

– The brain needs and automatically registers the familiar while simultaneously searching for and responding to novel stimuli.

– The brain is both scientist and artist, attempting to discern and understand patterns as they occur and giving expression to unique and creative patterns of its own.

– It resists having meaninglessness imposed on it as in isolated pieces of information unrelated to what makes sense to a particular learner.

Brain Research & Constructivist Learning• Emotions are critical to patterning

– What we learn is influenced and organized by emotions and involving expectations, personal biases and prejudices, self-esteem and the need for social interaction.

– Emotions and thoughts literally shape each other and cannot be separated. Emotions color meaning.

– Moreover, the emotional impact of any learning may continue to reverberate long after the specific event that triggers it.

Brain Research & Constructivist Learning• Every brain simultaneously perceives and

creates parts and wholes. – Although there is some truth to the "left-brain

right-brain" distinction, that is not the whole story. – In a healthy person, both hemispheres interact in

every activity, from art and computing to sales and accounting.

– The "two brain" doctrine is most useful for reminding us that the brain reduces information into parts and perceives holistically at the same time.

– Effective education recognize this, for instance, by introducing natural "global" projects and ideas from the very beginning

Gestalt Psychology

• a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies; or, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Gestalt Laws of Patterning

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.• I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty

uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. Tihs shwos the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy. It deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

• Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and oyu awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Count every “F” in the following text

• FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITHTHE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

Read the following

Left/Right Hemisphere Processing

Proximity

Optical Illusions

Optical Illusions

Optical Illusions

Optical Illusions

Optical Illusions

Optical Illusions

Optical Illusions

Faces in Strange Places

Faces in Strange Places

Faces in Strange Places

Jerome Bruner’s Theory

• 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".

Jerome Bruner• Teachers need

– To understand the relationship between motivation and learning.

– To understand how structure relates to the whole.

– To learn to form "global concepts.“– To learn how to build "coherent patterns”

of learning. – To understand that facts without meaning

or context are not learned.To believe that any subject can be taught to any child.

Jerome Bruner – Three Modes of Presentation

– Enactive Representation• Learning through action• Learning through demonstration• Learning through non‑verbal interactions

– Iconic Representation• Pictures• Diagrams• Images

– Symbolic Representation• Experience is translated into language• Concepts and Ideas

Jerome Bruner – Sequencing

– The simplest sequence is:• Enactive• Iconic• Symbolic

– Discovery sequencing• Inductive reasoning• Problem solving

– Deductive sequencing• Going from generalizations to specifics • (Whole‑parts)• Cause-effect

Domains of Learning • Cognitive Domain

– Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Psychomotor Domain

• Affective Domain

Bloom’s Taxonomy• Knowledge (recall)

• Comprehension

• Application

• Analysis

• Synthesis

• Evaluation

Critical Thinking

Bernice McCarthy & 4-MATMcCarthy's 4MAT Model

Learning Style Inventories

• The Learning Style Questionnaire• Myers-Briggs Inventory

Theories of Multiple Intelligence• Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

–“Intelligence is mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping of, real-world environments relevant to one’s life”

•Analytic Intelligence

•Practical Intelligence

•Creative Intelligence

Theories of Multiple Intelligence• Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences p. 126-28

• “This theory is a pluralized way of understanding the intellect. Recent advances in cognitive science, developmental psychology and neuroscience suggest that each person's level of intelligence, as it has been traditionally considered, is actually made up of autonomous faculties that can work individually or in concert with other faculties.”

Theories of Multiple Intelligence• Gardner originally identified 7 faculties which he labeled as “intelligences”Musical Intelligence

–Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence–Logical-Mathematical Intelligence–Linguistic Intelligence–Spatial Intelligence–Interpersonal Intelligence–Intrapersonal Intelligence

Musical Intelligence

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

Linguistic Intelligence

Spatial Intelligence

Interpersonal Intelligence

Intrapersonal Intelligence

Other Intelligences?