Here is a link to a VoiceThread I made for helping my students with further practice on dividing whole numbers by unit fractions.
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Thursday, June 6, 2024
CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING THEORY, TEACHING, AND LEARNING
In an article by Melinda Kolk she speaks to the connection between the modern classroom and constructivism (Kolk, 2023). She talks about Jean Piaget’s philosophy that education should prepare students to create, rather than just regurgitate or copy (Kolk, 2023). Teaching from a constructivist angle is not only beneficial to kids, but is becoming easier to implement as technology progresses.
In Walden University's Constructivism in practice video examples of this kind of learning are shown, with students participating in several project-based learning assignments, with the most time spent discussing a student project to create a containment system for an oil spill (Walden University, 2016). Project-based learning is a great way to address ISTE standard 2.5.b for teachers about designing authentic learning activities (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). Even so, sometimes I worry that a project like this slows learning down. Afterall, a teacher could probably give a lecture in a single day that covers most of what students will learn about oil spills over the course of their project. The problem is that students do not effectively absorb information from listening to a lecture. Also, topical learning is becoming more and more irrelevant. Memorizing facts is of little use to the 21st century learner, when they can search for information in an instant.
Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn talk about the importance of students generating and testing hypotheses, not only in Science, but in other school subjects as well (Pitler et al., 2012, p.204-205). They also say, “Technology plays a vital role in generating and testing hypotheses because new developments in probeware and interactive applets allow students to spend more time interpreting data rather than gathering data” (Pitler et al., 2012, p.205). They go on to say that gathering data can be, “tedious and error prone” (Pitler et al., 2012, p.205). Again the emphasis is on developing collaboration and problem solving skills for students rather than engaging in the some of the tedious parts of learning that are no longer relevant for today's learner.
The most important takeaway from the oil spill project is not what the students will learn about oil spills, but what they will learn about collaboration and problem solving skills. Both of these skills are emphasized in the student ISTE standards, specifically standard 1.7.c and 1.5.c (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). The teachers in the video emphasize this over and over again as they talk about how students learn cooperation skills and how to listen to each other (Walden University, 2016). When I implement my Genius Hour lesson I want to borrow from this, and emphasize the development of the soft skills my students will need for a 21st century workplace.
References
Ah-Nam, L., & Osman, K. (2017). Developing 21st century skills through a constructivist-constructionist learning environment. K-12 Stem Education, 3(2), 205-216.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). ISTE standards for students.
Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-students
International Society for Technology in Education. (2016). ISTE standards for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-teachers
Kolk, M. (2023). A Constructivist Classroom is a 21st-Century Classroom. Creative Educator.
Retrieved June 6, 2024, from https://www.thecreativeeducator.com/2023/articles/constructivist-now
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2016c). Constructivism in practice [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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