Laura Henriques on Constructivist Teaching and Learning
One of the greatest thing to take away from the contructivist theory is to begin with student misconceptions or out of the norm cognitive foundations. A learner is said to learn at their greatest depths through experiences within their external environment(s). Knowledge is created through the exploration of authentic questions and formulating evidence that fits, from their findings. A student's prior knowledge is the base for their understanding, otherwise known as "funds of knowledge," and is strengthened or changed according to the application of new found information.
Another important aspect to clarify is that constructivism is not a method of teaching, but of learning. I have learned this to its most inner depths in the Teaching Elementary School Science course with Brian Hand. The goal of this theory is that students are 100% in charge of their own learning. Therefore, depending on where a student's cognitive make up lies, they will construct meaning and knowledge according to what they can apply and make sense of. In the constructivist theory, teachers are not lecturers and students are to be self-motivated and self-exploratory of information in order to learn. Part of the inquiry approach, which is modeled from the constructivist learning theory, is that students negotiate information in order to challenge ideas and phenomena in order to solidify understanding and build knowledge.
As a learner and future educator, I fully believe in this theory. I think that students need the appropriate environment where they reflect on their prior knowledge, explore the questions they have that are authentic to themselves which fosters motivation and then negotiate findings with themselves or others in order to reach successful learning.
Through my various learnings of this topic, I have concluded that there is not one ultimately perfect approach/learning theory for every student, every lesson. There needs to be a balance between the areas such as when to put heavy focus on building off prior knowledge only or when to take on adventures to construct meaning from those experiences.
The teacher may be the planner of when the students will explore such concepts and having hard to get resources available for students' exploration, however it is not their job in constructivism to force feed information to the learners. Nevertheless, the constructivist theory is all about the student.
The only speculations I have about the theory, are based on my trials and errors of use in my practicum classroom. It is an ideal classroom setting, to foster the upmost constructed knowledge, however it has shown to be a hard transition for some students to go into when they have been learning directly from the teacher thus far. Some students today are not as accustomed to taking their questions and and running with them to find out the answers all on their own. In a typical science classroom today (unfortunately), those students' questions begin by the teacher asking and then the teacher giving them the answers to fill in the blanks. That then only sinks into 10% of their memory. If they were to go through all the steps of inquiry, equivalent to constructivism, they would then present their findings and fill 95% of their memory. Also, the "funds of knowledge" today are very widespread and off the basic spectrum that relates to sciences, especially biological. For example, students know a lot about video games, television, clothing and other material goods. It would be the teacher's role in this situation to take the students' funds of knowledge and find a way to incorporate educational activities for them to want to explore while learning the scientific phenomena behind them.
Ok, I must cease my rambling. I could go on for days about constructivism and the inquiry approach for science education. I have learned and applied much of my learning through the Science methods course and Brian Hand's up to now that there is so much to say with such little time and space. If my previous writing is unclear and you would like further proof that I am actually aware of the words I am typing, please inquire to see two documents I have compiled purely stating these facts in depth detail.
Ultimately, learning is in hands of the learner when given the appropriate environment by the teacher to grow and bloom.
