Constructivism

Mathematics Assignment

Name: Chuckoury Bibi Razia Course: Teachers Diploma Primary 2011-2012 Class: Black Submission Date: 10/28/2011

Constructivism
1.0 Definition
Constructivism is a theory about how people learn and based on the work of developmental psychologists, constructivism asserts that people construct meaning through their interpretive interactions with and experiences in their social environments. It assumes that prior knowledge and experiences play an important role in learning and shape the foundation for subsequent actions. It spotlights the learners attention on the why of learning and opens the door to critical thinking and intellectual development (Manus 1996). The basic premise of constructivist theories is that people create their own meaning through experience and constructivism is said to embraces a "top-down", starting with the main idea, concepts and the supporting details as shown in the diagram below, rather than a "bottom-up" instructional methodology. This means that, rather than teach all of the details that lead to a main idea; students discover the main idea and then derive the details.

In constructivism, students are encouraged to learn main ideas on their own through discovery learning. Examples include learning about addition and subtraction through the use of manipulatives or learning about capacity through experimentation with different sizes of objects. Constructivism has its roots in the cognitive theories of Piaget and Vygotsky and embraces several aspects of both of those theories.

1.1 Jean Piagets Theory

Jean Piaget (18961980), developed a theory (the theory of genetic epistemology) that analogized the development of the mind to evolutionary biological development and highlighted the adaptive function of cognition. Piaget proposed four stages in human development: the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. For Piaget, the development of human intellect proceeds through adaptation and organization. Adaptation is defined as a process of assimilation and accommodation, where external events are assimilated into existing understanding, but unfamiliar events, which do not fit with existing knowledge, are accommodated into the mind, thereby changing its organization. Piaget describes knowledge development from a holistic and cognitive perspective, emphasizing that there are many channels one uses to construct understanding, e.g., reading, listening, exploring, and experiencing. Piaget's hypothesis that learning is a transformative rather than a cumulative process is still central. Children do not learn a bit at a time about some issue until it finally comes together as understanding. Instead, they make sense of whatever they know from the very beginning. This understanding is progressively reformed as new knowledge is acquired, especially new knowledge that is incompatible with their previous understanding.

1.2 Vygotsky's Theory

On the other hand, Vygotskys (1978) social constructivism model stresses the importance of learning in contextconstructing understanding through interactions with others in the social environments in which knowledge is to be applied. Vygotsky held the position that the child gradually internalizes external and social activities, including communication, with more competent others. Although social speech is internalized in adulthood (it becomes thinking), Vygotsky contended that it still preserves its intrinsic collaborative character. In his experiments, Vygotsky studied the difference between the child's reasoning when working independently versus reasoning when working with a more competent person. He devised the notion of the zone of proximal development to reflect on the potential of this difference. Vygotsky's findings suggested that learning environments should involve guided interactions that permit children to reflect on inconsistency and to change their conceptions through communication. Vygotsky's work has since been extended in the situated approach to learning.

1.3 Understanding
Understanding is defined as a measure of how well this idea is integrated with or connected to other existing ideas in the learner's cognitive framework. Thus, it is reasonable for several children to each have constructed an idea - to possess a bit of knowledge - but each understands it differently and to different degrees.

1.3.1 Knowledge of mathematics: Conceptual v/s Procedural

Procedural knowledge of mathematics is knowledge of rules and procedures that one uses in carrying out routine mathematical tasks while on the other hand, conceptual knowledge of mathematics consist of logical relationships constructed internally and existing in the mind as part of a network of ideas.

Broadly speaking, procedural knowledge involves understanding the rules and routines of mathematics while conceptual knowledge involves an understanding of mathematical relationships.

1.4 Constructivism and Mathematics

In the philosophy of mathematics, constructivism emphasizes that it is necessary to discover (or "construct") a mathematical object to prove that it exists. According to constructivists when one assumes that an object does not exist and derives a contradiction from that assumption, one still has not found the object and therefore not proved its existence. Constructivism is said to have a strong voice in the current

dialogue on math education and it cuts a nice path between the main ideas that have influenced how math has been taught: the concept of math as facts to be transmitted to the student, and the view that some people have it and some people don't, where the educator's task is to figure out how "smart" students are and choose the right tasks for them to perform. Moreover, since constructivism focuses our attention on how people learn, it suggests that math knowledge results from people forming models in response to the questions and challenges that come from actively engaging math problems and environments not from simply taking in information, nor as merely the growing of an innate gift. The challenge in teaching is to create experiences that engage the student and support his or her own explanation, evaluation, communication, and application of the mathematical models needed to make sense of these experiences. Students need to construct their own understanding of each mathematical concept, so that the primary role of teaching is not to lecture, explain, or otherwise attempt to 'transfer' mathematical knowledge, but to create situations for students that will foster their making the necessary mental constructions. A critical aspect of the approach is a decomposition of each mathematical concept into developmental steps following a

Piagetian theory of knowledge based on observation of, and interviews with, students as they attempt to learn a concept. Similarly according to Harkness et al. (2008), students must be active participants in their own learning through conversations and exchange of ideas with teachers and other students that help them reach new prospects of understanding and in mathematics classrooms, students co-construct their knowledge through collaboration on meaningful tasks. When they do so, they make connections to previous mathematical understanding and refine their thinking; they are not empty vessels waiting for information deposits and accumulation. Given this view, there are many approaches to improving teaching: look for different ways to engage individual students, develop rich environments for exploration, prepare coherent problem sets and challenges that focus the model building effort, elicit and communicate student perceptions and interpretations, and so on.

References Bethany, R and Martha, W.A., (1999). Conceptual and procedural Knowledge of Mathematics. Journal of educational psychology, 91(1), 175-189. DeVries, R., Haney, J., & Zan, B. (1991). Sociomoral atmosphere in direct-instruction, eclectic, and constructivist kindergartens: A study of teachers enacted interpersonal understanding. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 6(4), 449-472

Websites Wikipedia Construction knowledge.net