Constructivist Learning

Constructivist approaches to teaching and learning have come about from various educators and psychologists. The are two perspectives within the realm of constructivism, cognitive and social. When applying either of the two perspectives to teaching and learning, the main focus is that the child is the independent creator of their knowledge.

When it is said that children are constructing their own knowledge as in the view of constructrivism, the children are actually inventing their own ideas, rather than taking in the ideas spoken at them by their teacher. In this process, their ideas gain in complexity and the children develop critical insight into how they think and what they know about the world.

A teacher that believes in constructivist theories will provide a learning environment that is filled with interesting activities that encourage the learning process. Play and experimentation may also be included in the constructivist classroom. Collaborative learning in groups is used as well, it is said that children benefit when they "share the process of constructing their own ideas, instead of laboring individually." Other activities aimed at constructivism include reading/writing workshops, whole language, anchored instruction, problem solving, games, and situated learning. All of these combined facilitate the children’s learning by nurturing their own cognitive and social abilities.

www.coe.uh.edu/ichen/ebook/ET-IT/social.htm

www.ilt.columbia.edu/k12/livetext/docs/construct.html