Constructivism

What is constructivism?
* A philosophy of learning, by reflecting on our experiences,
* We construct our own understanding of the world we live in.
* Each of us generates our own "rules" and "mental models," which we use to make sense of our experiences.
Learning
It is the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences.
What is the history ofconstructivism, and how has it changed over time?

Piaget
* believed that humans learn through the construction of one logical structure after another.
* the logic of children and their modes of thinking are different from those of adults.
* The implications and application of this theory have shaped the foundation for constructivist education.
Vygotsky
* introduced the social aspect oflearning into constructivism.
* "zone of proximal learning," students solve problems beyond their actual developmental level (but within their level of potential development) under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.

Piaget's theory
* constructing a highly influential model of child development and learning
* the developing child buildscognitive structures--in other words, mental "maps," schemes, or networked concepts for understanding and responding to physical experiences within his or her environment.
* a child's cognitive structure increases in sophistication with development, moving from a few innate reflexes such as crying and sucking to highly complex mental activities.
Jean Piaget’s Contribution to Constructivism* Swiss biologist and psychologist (1896-1980)
Cognitive constructivism
* His theory has two major parts:
* an "ages and stages" component that predicts what children can and cannot understand at different ages, and a theory of development that describes how children develop cognitive abilities.
Piaget's theory of cognitive development
* proposes that humans cannot be "given"information, which they immediately understand and use.
* Instead, humans must "construct" their own knowledge.
They build their knowledge through experience.
Experiences enable them to create schemas - mental
models in their heads.
These schemas are changed, enlarged, and made more
sophisticated through two complimentaryprocesses:
assimilation and accommodation
1. Interactionism
Knowledge is the product of interactions between the person who learns, the object, and the processes of the reality that the learner tries to internalize
1.Sensorimotor stage (birth - 2 years old)
* The child, through physical interaction with his or her environment, builds a set of concepts about reality andhow it works. This is the stage where a child does not know that physical objects remain in existence even when out of sight (object permanence).
* Object permanence occurs at 7-9 months, demonstrating that memory is developing. Infants realize that an object exists after it can no longer be seen.
2. Stages of Cognitive Development
* a child's cognitive structure increases insophistication with development, moving from a few innate reflexes such as crying and sucking to highly complex mental activities.
2. Preoperational stage (ages 2-7)
* The child is not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and needs concrete physical situations.
3. Concrete operations (ages 7-11)
* As physical experience accumulates, the child starts to conceptualize, creating logical structuresthat explain his or her physical experiences. Abstract problem solving is also possible at this stage. For example, arithmetic equations can be solved with numbers, not just with objects.
4. Formal operations (beginning at ages 11-15)
* By this point, the child's cognitive structures are like those of an adult and include conceptual reasoning.
Learning processes of conceptual change :...