Problem 5
Woolfolk
Constructivist theories agree on 2 main ideas:
- Learners are active in constructing their own knowledge
- Social interactions are important in this knowledge construction process
2 forms of constructivism: psychological and social
- Psychological/individual/cognitive constructivism: focuses on how individuals use
information, resources and help from others to build and improve their mental models and
problem-solving strategies
- Social constructivism: views learning as increasing our abilities to participate with others in
activities that are meaningful in the culture
- Piaget: construction of universal knowledge comes from reflecting on and coordinating our
thoughts, not directly from the environment: first-wave constructivism (individual meaning
making)
- Radical constructivism: individuals can never know objective reality/truth but only know
what they believe or perceive
- Vygotsky: cultural tools, social interaction and activity shape individual development and
learning: second-wave constructivism (putting learning in cultural contexts)
- One way to of integrating individual and social constructivism is to think of knowledge as
both individually constructed and socially mediated
Elements of constructivist student-centered teaching
- 5 conditions for learning:
o Embed learning in complex & realistic environments and authentic tasks
o Provide social negotiation and shared responsibility
o Support multiple perspectives and use multiple representations
o Nurture self-awareness and an understanding that knowledge is constructed
o Encourage ownership in learning
Applying constructivist perspective
- Scaffolding: contingency support, fading, and transferring responsibility
- Inquiry learning: teacher presents a puzzling event/problem and the students formulate
hypotheses, collect data to test the hypotheses, draw conclusion and reflect on original
problem and the thinking processes
o Processes of inquiry are:
o Procedural (hands-on, science procedures, collect data, graphing), epistemic
(drawing conclusions, generating/revising theories), conceptual (connecting prior
knowledge, elicit mental models) and social (class discussion, arguing, debating)
, - Problem-based learning: to help students develop useful and flexible knowledge, not inert,
enhance intrinsic motivation, problem-solving skills, collaboration, self-directed learning
etc.
- In true PBL, the problem is real (authentic) and the students’ actions matter
Article 1 – PBL (Loyens, Kirschner, Paas)
- 3 levels: curriculum level, group level and individual level
The curriculum level
Problems:
- The first input that students encounter
- Relates to problems for a particular domain of study
- Must build on prior knowledge
- Must elicit discussion
- Must be ensure the formulation of learning goals
- Must encourage integration and transfer of knowledge
- Must be relevant to future profession
Collaboration in small groups:
- 6 to 10 students meet for 2-3 hours twice a week
- Sessions guided by a tutor, 2 students as chair and scribe
- Lectures are more comprehensive than transmissive
- Collaborative learning stimulates discussion and task involvement
Learning objectives and multiple learning sources:
- Learning objectives are determined by the coordinator for all students
- Novice students in PBL are provided with restricted set of resources for individual study
- With increasing expertise, students are provided with less and less specified resources
The group level
The tutor:
- Role of the tutor is to facilitate and stimulate group discussion
- Ensures that problem content is discussed in depth
- Evaluates the groups members’ contribution
- When needed asks open-ended questions and supports knowledge: induce germane load
- Prevents students from spending time on irrelevant information: reduce extraneous load
- Tutor interventions should diminish over time
- Tutor effectiveness depends on tutor subject-matter expertise, prior knowledge of
students, and amount of structure in the instruction
- Effective tutors have cognitive congruence, social congruence and expertise
o Cognitive congruence: has a language adapted to students’ level
Woolfolk
Constructivist theories agree on 2 main ideas:
- Learners are active in constructing their own knowledge
- Social interactions are important in this knowledge construction process
2 forms of constructivism: psychological and social
- Psychological/individual/cognitive constructivism: focuses on how individuals use
information, resources and help from others to build and improve their mental models and
problem-solving strategies
- Social constructivism: views learning as increasing our abilities to participate with others in
activities that are meaningful in the culture
- Piaget: construction of universal knowledge comes from reflecting on and coordinating our
thoughts, not directly from the environment: first-wave constructivism (individual meaning
making)
- Radical constructivism: individuals can never know objective reality/truth but only know
what they believe or perceive
- Vygotsky: cultural tools, social interaction and activity shape individual development and
learning: second-wave constructivism (putting learning in cultural contexts)
- One way to of integrating individual and social constructivism is to think of knowledge as
both individually constructed and socially mediated
Elements of constructivist student-centered teaching
- 5 conditions for learning:
o Embed learning in complex & realistic environments and authentic tasks
o Provide social negotiation and shared responsibility
o Support multiple perspectives and use multiple representations
o Nurture self-awareness and an understanding that knowledge is constructed
o Encourage ownership in learning
Applying constructivist perspective
- Scaffolding: contingency support, fading, and transferring responsibility
- Inquiry learning: teacher presents a puzzling event/problem and the students formulate
hypotheses, collect data to test the hypotheses, draw conclusion and reflect on original
problem and the thinking processes
o Processes of inquiry are:
o Procedural (hands-on, science procedures, collect data, graphing), epistemic
(drawing conclusions, generating/revising theories), conceptual (connecting prior
knowledge, elicit mental models) and social (class discussion, arguing, debating)
, - Problem-based learning: to help students develop useful and flexible knowledge, not inert,
enhance intrinsic motivation, problem-solving skills, collaboration, self-directed learning
etc.
- In true PBL, the problem is real (authentic) and the students’ actions matter
Article 1 – PBL (Loyens, Kirschner, Paas)
- 3 levels: curriculum level, group level and individual level
The curriculum level
Problems:
- The first input that students encounter
- Relates to problems for a particular domain of study
- Must build on prior knowledge
- Must elicit discussion
- Must be ensure the formulation of learning goals
- Must encourage integration and transfer of knowledge
- Must be relevant to future profession
Collaboration in small groups:
- 6 to 10 students meet for 2-3 hours twice a week
- Sessions guided by a tutor, 2 students as chair and scribe
- Lectures are more comprehensive than transmissive
- Collaborative learning stimulates discussion and task involvement
Learning objectives and multiple learning sources:
- Learning objectives are determined by the coordinator for all students
- Novice students in PBL are provided with restricted set of resources for individual study
- With increasing expertise, students are provided with less and less specified resources
The group level
The tutor:
- Role of the tutor is to facilitate and stimulate group discussion
- Ensures that problem content is discussed in depth
- Evaluates the groups members’ contribution
- When needed asks open-ended questions and supports knowledge: induce germane load
- Prevents students from spending time on irrelevant information: reduce extraneous load
- Tutor interventions should diminish over time
- Tutor effectiveness depends on tutor subject-matter expertise, prior knowledge of
students, and amount of structure in the instruction
- Effective tutors have cognitive congruence, social congruence and expertise
o Cognitive congruence: has a language adapted to students’ level
