Constructivims

Constructivism I think so far is the most applicable of all or most useful of all theories so far. When an instructor design a learning event, it is important to look at what kind of theories can be used to get the best result. Constructivism is a theory based on the idea that the learning occurs when people learn by connecting to their experiences and by making sense of their learning by constructing ideas about what they are learning to what they know from the past. The role of a teacher then is to facilitate the learning. Teacher acts as a guide, providing opportunities for the learners to thrive. I think this approach is way up in the blooms taxonomy as compared to behaviorism where the learning objectives are to recognize, remember etc. as opposed to in constructivsm, the objectives are to construct, to create, to apply etc. So the type of learning is different, it is more in depth, and more useful.

I am still at a place where I am still confused, but I think, The best way to explain learning is, the first stage is remembering facts, recollecting the concepts etc. which is behaviorists theory. Then, learners need to understand what they are learning, they use some cognitive skills to understand. Once they understand, they try to construct their own meaning and start creating new things, applying it in new situations etc. This is where the constructive theory comes in. I think all theories work together in learning.

This week, my biggest learning point is Zone of proximal development- which is what a student is capable of doing with help and what he or she can not do. We can use scaffolding and few other techniques to help students understand materials. For example, ELL students learn content but they are language challenged, so we pre teach vocabulary etc to help them access the content.