LEARNING DEVELOPMENT

ACTIVE LEARNING: CONSTRUCTIVISM

Constructivism:

BUILDING
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH
EXPERIENCE
 Reflecting on our
experiences, we construct our
own understanding of the
world we live in.
The History of
Constructivism
 The Main Men
Socrates 469-399 BC: asked directed questions
that led students to realize for themselves the
weaknesses in their thinking, encouraged
dialogue

Jean Piaget 1896-1980: knowledge is build on

experiences that creates schemas, ages and
stages of development (Cognitive
Constructivism)
Lev Vygotsky 1896-1934: knowledge comes
from cultural and social influences and
experiences with peers, teachers, parents, etc.
(Social Constructivism)
Jerome Bruner 1915-present: learning is an
active process, new ideas based on current or
previous knowledge
HOW CONSTRUCTIVISM IMPACTS
LEARNING
Curriculum

calls for the elimination of a

standardized curriculum
promotes using curricula
customized to the students' prior
knowledge
emphasizes hands-on problem
solving
How Constructivism Impacts
Learning cont.
Assessment
calls for the elimination of grades
and standardized testing
becomes part of the learning
process so that students play a
larger role in judging their own
progress (self-assessment)
Comparison to Traditional
Classroom Learning

There are significant differences in

basic assumptions about
knowledge, students, and learning
that exist between traditional and
constructivist-based classrooms.
A Classroom Comparison
BEHAVIORIST CONSTRUCTIVIST
Basic skills Big concepts
Fixed curriculum Student driven
curriculum
Textbooks, workbooks Manipulatives, etc.
Repetition Interactive, build on
schema
Teacher directed Student directed
Knowledge is inert Knowledge is dynamic
Individual work Cooperative learning
Traditional testing Authentic, ongoing
assessment
The Downfalls of
Constructivism
Time Consuming for teacher and
learner
Higher demands on learners
Difficult to create detailed lesson
plan because so much
variation is possible
Not the only orientation to learning
you will ever need
What is constructivism?

Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on

observation and scientific study -- about how
people learn. It says that people construct their
own understanding and knowledge of the world,
through experiencing things and reflecting on
those experiences. When we encounter
something new, we have to reconcile it with our
previous ideas and experience, maybe changing
what we believe, or maybe discarding the new
information as irrelevant. In any case, we are
active creators of our own knowledge. To do this,
we must ask questions, explore, and assess what
we know.
 In the classroom, the constructivist view of
learning can point towards a number of
different teaching practices. In the most
general sense, it usually means encouraging
students to use active techniques
(experiments, real-world problem solving) to
create more knowledge and then to reflect on
and talk about what they are doing and how
their understanding is changing. The teacher
makes sure she understands the students'
preexisting conceptions, and guides the
activity to address them and then build on
them.
 Constructivist teachers encourage students
to constantly assess how the activity is
helping them gain understanding. By
questioning themselves and their strategies,
students in the constructivist classroom
ideally become "expert learners." This gives
them ever-broadening tools to keep learning.
With a well-planned classroom environment,
the students learn HOW TO LEARN.
 Constructivism is also often misconstrued as a learning
theory that compels students to "reinvent the wheel." In
fact, constructivism taps into and triggers the student's
innate curiosity about the world and how things work.
Students do not reinvent the wheel but, rather, attempt to
understand how it turns, how it functions. They become
engaged by applying their existing knowledge and real-
world experience, learning to hypothesize, testing their
theories, and ultimately drawing conclusions from their
findings.
The best way for you to really understand what
constructivism is and what it means in your classroom is by
seeing examples of it at work, speaking with others about
it, and trying it yourself. As you progress through each
segment of this workshop, keep in mind questions or ideas
to share with your colleagues
What does constructivism have to do
with my classroom?
prompt students to formulate their own
questions (inquiry)
allow multiple interpretations and
expressions of learning (multiple
intelligences)
encourage group work and the use of peers as
resources (collaborative learning)
 In a constructivist classroom, learning is . . .

Students are not blank slates upon which

knowledge is etched. They come to learning
situations with already formulated
knowledge, ideas, and understandings. This
previous knowledge is the raw material for
the new knowledge they will create.
The student is the person who creates new
understanding for him/herself. The teacher coaches,
moderates, suggests, but allows the students room to
experiment, ask questions, try things that don't work.
Learning activities require the students' full
participation (like hands-on experiments). An
important part of the learning process is that students
reflect on, and talk about, their activities. Students also
help set their own goals and means of assessment.
 Students control their own learning process, and
they lead the way by reflecting on their experiences.
This process makes them experts of their own
learning. The teacher helps create situations where
the students feel safe questioning and reflecting on
their own processes, either privately or in group
discussions. The teacher should also create activities
that lead the student to reflect on his or her prior
knowledge and experiences. Talking about what was
learned and how it was learned is really important.
 The constructivist classroom relies heavily on
collaboration among students. There are many
reasons why collaboration contributes to
learning. The main reason it is used so much in
constructivism is that students learn about
learning not only from themselves, but also from
their peers. When students review and reflect on
their learning processes together, they can pick
up strategies and methods from one another.
 The main activity in a constructivist
classroom is solving problems. Students use
inquiry methods to ask questions, investigate
a topic, and use a variety of resources to find
solutions and answers. As students explore
the topic, they draw conclusions, and, as
exploration continues, they revisit those
conclusions. Exploration of questions leads to
more questions.
 Students have ideas that they may later see
were invalid, incorrect, or insufficient to
explain new experiences. These ideas are
temporary steps in the integration of
knowledge. For instance, a child may believe
that all trees lose their leaves in the fall, until
she visits an evergreen forest. Constructivist
teaching takes into account students' current
conceptions and builds from there
Traditional Classroom
Teaching
vs.
Constructivism
Classroom Teaching
Traditional Classroom Teaching vs. Constructivism Classroom Teaching

traditional classroom
Student primarily work alone
Curriculum is presented part to whole, with emphasis on
basic skills
Strict adherence to a fixed curriculum
Curricular activities rely heavily on textbooks of data and
manipulative materials
Students are viewed as "blank slates"
Teachers generally behave in a didactic manner,
Teachers seek the correct answers to validate student
lessons.
Assessment of student learning is viewed as separate from
teaching and occurs almost entirely through testing.
Constructivist Classroom
Students primarily work in groups
Curriculum is presented whole to part with emphasis on the
big concept
Pursuit of student questions is highly valued.
Students are viewed as thinkers with emerging theories
about the world
Teachers generally behave as facilitators
Teachers seek the student's point of view in order to
understand student learning for use later on
Assessment of student learning is interwoven with teaching
and occurs through teacher observation of students at work
and through exhibitions and portfolios.

10 basic guiding principles of

constructivist thinking that
educators must keep in mind:
It takes time to learn
Learning is an active process in which the student
constructs meaning out of
People learn to learn
Learning involves language
Learning is a social activity
Learning is contextual
The act of constructing meaning is mental
Every one needs knowledge to learn
Learning is not the passive acceptance of knowledge it
takes work
Motivation is a major aspect of learning
Traditional Classroom Constructivist classroom
Curriculum begins with the parts of the whole. Curriculum emphasizes big concepts, beginning with the
Emphasizes basic skills. whole and expanding to include the parts.

Strict adherence to fixed curriculum is highly valued. Pursuit of student questions and interests is valued.

Materials are primarily textbooks and workbooks. Materials include primary sources of material and
manipulative materials.

Learning is based on repetition. Learning is interactive, building on what the student

already knows.

Teachers disseminate information to students; students Teachers have a dialogue with students, helping students
are recipients of knowledge. construct their own knowledge.

Teacher's role is directive, rooted in authority. Teacher's role is interactive, rooted in negotiation.

Assessment is through testing, correct answers. Assessment includes student works, observations, and
points of view, as well as tests. Process is as important as
product.

Knowledge is seen as inert. Knowledge is seen as dynamic, ever changing with our
experiences.

Students work primarily alone. Students work primarily in groups.

ACCOMODATION AND
ASSIMILATION
Adaptation: Two Mechanisms

Assimilation:
Interpreting or construing environmental events in
terms of ones existing cognitive structures and ways
of thinking

Accommodation:
Changing ones existing cognitive structures and ways
of thinking to apprehend environmental events
 Piagetian Theory: Assimilation and
Accommodation:
Adapt to new
information

Assimilation Accommodation

Reinterpret new Revamp old ideas so they

experiences so they can adapt to new change
fit into old ideas current ways of
existing ideas dont thinking/ideas so as to add
change, stay same new knowledge
 Adaptation:

Adaptation involves building schemes, or psychological structures,

through direct interaction with the environment.
According to Piaget, adaptation consists of two complementary
activities:
Assimilation using current schemes to interpret the external world.
Accommodation adjusting old schemes or creating new ones after
noticing that current thinking does not capture the environment
completely.
Piaget used the term disequalibration to describe the implementation
of assimilation and accommodation to create equilibrium between
thinking and reality.
This construction occurs through the adaptation
to the environment
Assimilation
Cognitive process by
which a person integrates
new perceptual matter or
stimulus events into
existing schemes
Part of the adaptation
process by which
individual cognitively
adapts to and organizes
the environment
Ongoing process
Accommodation
Creation of new schemes
or modification of old
schemes
Reflects a failure of
assimilation
Accommodation occurs,
then assimilation tried
again
Assimilation is always the
end-product
LEARNING DEVELOPMENT
2. PIAGETS STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT
Organization

Piaget believed that

human beings inherited
the tendency to organize
Stages of Development
Piaget believed that children move through four stages of
development.
Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal
Operational.
Through these stages exploratory behaviors of infants are
transformed into the abstract, logical intelligence of
adolescence and adulthood.
Piagets stage sequence has two important characteristics:
It is invariant stages always follow a fixed order.
It is universal stages are assumed to describe the cognitive
development of children everywhere.
Stages of Development

Piaget believed that the development of

qualitatively different cognitive structures
occurred through the processes of assimilation
and accommodation.

When a qualitative change occurs, the

infant/child enters a new stage of development
Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor
Pre-operational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Piagets Periods of Cognitive Development

Formal
Operational

Concrete
Operational

Pre-
operational

Sensorimotor

0-2 2-7 7 - 12 12+

The Sensorimotor Stage
According to Piaget, at birth infants know so little that
they cannot purposefully explore their surroundings.
Circular reactions provide newborns with a special
means of adapting their first schemes.
It involves stumbling onto a new experience caused by the
babys motor activity.
The reaction is circular because the infant tries to repeat the
event again and again.
As a result, the accidental response becomes strengthened
into a new scheme.
From Sensorimotor to Pre-Operational:
Object Permanence

Object Permanence develops in this phase.

The first development takes place in stage 3, at 4-

10 months.

In stage 4 (10 - 12 months) object permanence

becomes more prominent in childrens play.
Infants have a completely developed sense of
object permanence before entering
Preoperational thought.
 Object Permanence

Until stage 3, infants have no sense of objects outside of

themselves.
As they mature, their egocentrism fades, and they begin
to recognize that the world exists outside of their own
perception of it.
A happy 8 month old baby, playing with her
ball...
until, the ball rolls out of her sight...
and to her it is completely gone!
Stage 2: Pre-operational
(2-6 yrs)
Infants do trial-and-error internally
Infants actions and thinking are not limited to
objects that are here and now
Begin to develop the ability (around 5 but 3-4
years) to conserve the qualitative and
quantitative identity of objects even when they
change perceptually
By 6 years, can distinguish between current
appearance and reality
PreOperational Stage
Age of curiosity
Physical actions
become internalized
mental
representations
 Stage 2: Pre-operational
(2-6 yrs)
Limitations
Egocentrism: All
representation of the
world is from ones
own perspective
- Centration: Focuses on
only one aspect of a
problem at a time

- Animism: Thinks that

inanimate objects have
qualities of living things
Stage 3: Concrete
Operational
(6-12
period.

yrs)
Child is more logical and able to complete task not able to in Pre-Operation
Thinking is still with real or concrete objects and actions, and not yet abstract thinking

Conservation of Number is mastered by age 6

Conservation of Length & Weight is mastered by age 8 or 9
Class Inclusion - A subclass cannot be larger than the superordinate class that
includes it
 Concrete Operational Stage
Piaget viewed the concrete operational stage as a major
turning point in cognitive development.
During this stage thought more closely resembles that of adults
than that of the sensorimotor or preoperational child.
Concrete operational reasoning is far more logical, flexible, and
organized than thinking during the preschool period.
But concreter operational thinking suffers from one important
limitation:
Children think in an organized, logical fashion only when dealing with
concrete information they can directly perceive.
 Concrete Operational Stage

This stage is characterized by seven types of

conservation:
number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, and
volume.
 Concrete Operational Stage

Intelligence is demonstrated through logical

and systematic manipulation of symbols
related to concrete objects.
Operational thinking develops (mental
actions that are reversible).
Egocentric thought diminishes.
 Stage 4: Formal Operational

The ability to think logically about things that are

only possible and not necessarily real (or
concrete) -- abstract thinking

Hypothetical-deductive reasoning

Not everyone reaches this stage:

Studies have indictated that science and math
students better at this
Formal Operational Stage
According to Piaget, the capacity for abstract thinking
begins with the formal operational stage.
Adolescents reason much like a scientist searching for
solutions in the laboratory.
Concrete operational children can only operate on reality,
formal operational adolescents can operate on operations.
Concrete things and events are no longer required as objects
of thought.
Adolescents can come up with new, more general logical
rules through internal reflection.
 Formal Operational Stage

Intelligence is demonstrated through the logical

manipulation of symbols related to abstract concepts.
Early in this period there is a return to egocentric
thought.
Many adults never attain this stage.
 Piagets Periods of Cognitive Development
Birth to 2 Sensori-motor Uses senses and Object
years motor skills, items permanence
known by use learned

2-6 yrs Pre- Symbolic thinking, Imagination/

operational language used; experience grow,
egocentric thinking child de-centers

7-11 yrs Concrete Logic applied, has Conservation,

operational objective/rational numbers, ideas,
interpretations classifications

12 yrs to Formal Thinks abstractly, Ethics, politics,

adulthood operational hypothetical ideas social/moral
(broader issues) issues explored

Focus on organization and adaptation

LEARNING DEVELOPMENT:

2. Piagets stages of development

Summary of the Theory

Learning is a search for meaning

Meaning requires understanding

wholes as well as parts

The purpose of learning is for an

individual to construct his or her own
meaning, not just memorize the "right"
answers and regurgitate someone else's
meaning.
Summary of the Theory
Learners construct their own understanding and
knowledge of the world, through experiencing things
and reflecting on those experiences

Active creators of our own knowledge (adding to or

modifying existing schema)

Constructivist Buzzwords:
cooperative learning settings
student-centered classrooms
problem solving
inquiry-based
3. CRITICISM OF PIAGETS STAGES
LEARNING DEVELOPMENT
Problems With Research
Methods
Much of the criticism of Piaget's work is in
regards to his research methods. A major
source of inspiration for the theory was
Piaget's observations of his own three
children
Problems With Formal
Operations
Research has disputed Piaget's argument
that all children will automatically move to
the next stage of development as they
mature. Some data suggests that
environmental factors may play a role in the
development of formal operations.
Underestimates Children's Abilities
Over simplification of
structrually distinct stages:
Data has shown that there does not seem to
be the consistency of thinking at each stage
of development that Piaget believed. For
example, students may understand the
conservation of number effectively, but may
not be able to conceive the conservation of
weight.
Vygotskys View of
Cognitive
Development
Vygotskys View of Cognitive
Development
Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist
who, though a contemporary of
Piaget, died in 1934, only 38 when he
died of tuberculosis, but he had
produced over 100 books and
articles
Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory development is
product of social and cultural experiences
Key ideas (Social-cultural
theory )
he proposed that intellectual development can be
understood only in terms of the historical and
cultural contexts children experience
In contrast to Piaget, Vygotaky proposed that
cognitive development is strongly linked to input
from others.
he believed that development depends on the sign
systems that individuals grow up with
ZPD (THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMENT )
SCAFFOLDING
For example

A six-year-old has lost a toy and asks her

father for help. The father asks her where she
last saw the toy; the child says : I can't
remember." He asks a series of questions: Did
you have it in your room? Outside? Next door?
To each question, the child answers, no.'
When he says "in the car?" she says "1 think
so" and goes to retrieve the to
Difference to Piagets view

Creative Thinking:

What are the differences

between Piagtets and Vygotskys
theores of Egocentric and Private
Speech?
Theoretical Perspectives on Development:
Contextual Perspectives: Vygotskys
Sociocultural Theory
1)
Did NOT focus on the individual
child but on the child as a product of
social interaction, especially with
adults (parents, teachers).
2.) Focus on INTERACTIONS (e.g.,
child being taught by a parent how
to perform some culturally specific
action), rather than child by himself
 3.) Social world mediates children's
cognitive development. Cognitive
development occurs as child's
thinking is molded by society in the
form of parents, teachers, and
peers. This leads to peer tutoring as
a strategy in classrooms.
 Child language
acquisition
First and second
Language Acquisition

Language Development

Phonological development

Semantic development

Syntactic development and syntactic

categories
Second language acquisition

Factors that affect our chances of learning

L2:
Individual differences
Age of acquisition effects
Environment of learning
Style of instruction--conejo is rabbit

Stages of second language acquisition

 Child First Language Acquisition:
Young Children Talking
3 months
6 months
9 months
12 months
18 months
24 months
36 month
 Child First Language Acquisition

Babbling
Words
Sounds and Pronunciation
Syntax
Morphology
Is Language Behavior?

Predictions of behaviorism for first

language acquisition:
Children would make many errors.
Errors would differ from child to child.
The level of linguistic attainment would differ

from child to child.

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Language acquisition is the study of the

processes through which humans acquire
language.
By itself, language acquisition refers to first
language acquisition, which studies infants'
acquisition of their native language, whereas
second language acquisition deals with
acquisition of additional languages in both
children and adults.
STAGES IN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Babbling: linguistic ability. Auditory input

Holophrastic stage. Childrens utterance is one
word.
Telegraphic stage: Starting to put words
together into sentences.
The words and sentences that children produce
at each stage of development conform to the set
of grammatical rules.
Humans are born with a predisposition to
discover the units that serve to express linguistic
meaning.
Language Development
Language Stage Beginning
Age
Crying! Birth
Cooing! 6 weeks
Babbling! 6 months
Intonation patterns! 8 months
One-word utterances! 1 year
Two-word utterances! 18 months
Word inflections! 2 years
Questions, negations! 2 1/4 years
Rare and complex constructions! 5 years
Mature speech! 10 years
Pre-Verbal Language
Development
Crying: Non-linguistic Though some language
specific elements.
Cooing: Non-linguistic. Exercising the articulatory
apparatus. Imitation and the beginning of turn-taking.
Babbling: here infants are clearly producing
syllable like sounds. No meaning attached to the
babble. Syllables are often found in repetitive
sequences (babababa). Children clearly utilise their
babling to tune their vocalisation to the sounds of the
local language.
Babbling as part of the biologically determined
maturation of language abilities.
Babbling drift: Around 9-14 months infants restrict
their babbling to native language sounds.
First words

Shortly before their first birthday, babies

begin to understand words, and around
that birthday, they start to produce them.
Words are usually produced in isolation;
this one-word stage can last from two
months to a year.
There are words for actions, motions, and
routines, like (up, off, open, eat, and go,
and modifiers, like hot, all gone, more, dirty,
and cold.
Lexical Development
Children start producing their first words around
12
months.
Words are used holophrastically: A word stands for
an entire sentence.
By 24 months they have an expressive vocabulary
of
between 50 to 600 words.
Experience matters for vocabulary growth.
Privileged children hear about 2,100 words/hour.
Disadvantaged children hear only about 600
words/hour.
Syntactic Development

18-24 Months: Two-word utterances

95% of utterances: Correct word order.
Telegraphic speech (few function words).
Bilingualism Defined

Bilingualism is the ability to master the

use of two languages, and
multilingualism is the ability to master
the use of more than two languages.
Consequences of Bilingualism

Interrelation among the two languages

Language dominance issue
Selectivity of activation in the two
languages
Relative activation of the two languages
THEORIES OF BILINGUAL
DEVELOPMENT
The unitary system hypothesis children
initially construct one lexicon one grammar
The separate system hypothesis the bilingual
child builds a distinct lexicon and grammar
for each language. Bilingual children develops
their grammar along the same line as
monolingual children. The rule of the thumb
is that children receive equal input in the two
languages to achieve native proficiency in
both.
 Childrens Second Language
Acquisition Stages and related
linguistic Patterns (Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell,
1983)
STAGE 1. PRE-PRODUCTION (Silent Period):
Minimal comprehension; No verbal production. Up
to 500 words in their receptive Vocabulary. They
need Repetition.
STAGE 2. EARLY PRODUCTION:
Limited comprehension one/two- word response.
Vocabulary of 1000 words
.STAGE 3. SPEECH EMERGENCE:
Increased Comprehension; Simple sentences;
Some errors in speech. Vocabulary of 3,000 words.
 Childrens Second Language
Acquisition
STAGE 4. INTERMEDIATE FLUENCY:
Very good comprehension; More complex
sentences and concepts; Complex errors in
speech. Able to synthesize and make inferences.
Vocabulary of 6,000 active words.
STAGE 5 ADVANCED FLUENCY:
Near- native in their ability; From 4-10 years to
achieve cognitive academic language proficiency.
 Theories of Language
Acquisition
Empiricism:
This school is based on four theories or
hypothesizes. The stimulus theory, the
correctness theory; trial and errors theory, and
the imitation theory. The empiricists believe that
the actual experience is the source of ideas. The
mind is at first a Tabula Rasa, they believe that
we have no special inborn capacity to acquire
language. Language is entirely learnt through
environmental stimulus and behavioural
response. The empiricists believe that the child
imitates the adult in speaking.
RATIONALISM
The rationalists believe that
the reason is the chief source of
knowledge. They stress on the fact
that children acquire language so
readily because it is in their genes.
They also believe that children are
born with a capacity to acquire
many languages.
 Do children learn language by
imitation?
Close observation of babies acquiring their
first language show that children do not
imitate and that also children do not hear the
corrections.
Children behave as efficient linguists; they
form linguistic rules and apply them by
generalization. The over-generalization
process does not occur in adults speech and
this is another proof against the hypothesis of
imitation.