Automation Foundation - Constructivism Presentation

• IS the theory that knowledge is obtained through an active process and is constructed.

• Learning new material is built off of previous knowledge.

• Learning is not a passive process.• It provides students with a more

individualized learning.

• The teacher is to act as a guide in this model.

• The teacher provides the students with the necessary materials and information to test their ideas on a new topic.

• The teacher asks the students to then explain their understanding about a topic.

• Teacher no longer acts as the Sage who just lectures.

• Jean Piaget and John Dewey developed theories of childhood development and education.

• They came up with the idea that learning is most effect and efficient when the student is actively participating in their own learning.o So students should no longer be a passive

bystander in their own learning.

PROs of Constructivism

• Engages students in activities rather than listening to lecture• A learning style that can be used for years to come, even

outside of school• Promotes active role in the discovery of new information • Using all faculties promotes a higher level of thinking• Hands-on discovery is always better than being "taught"

CONs of Constructivism

• Lack of structure• Instructor accountability• "Group thinking" may lead to majority rules philosophy• Socio-economic class may prove advantageous to some

while proving dis-advantageous to others  

Advantages to Constructivism

• Encourages active engagement• Promotes motivation• Promotes autonomy, responsibility, independence• Development of reativity and problem solving skills• A tailored learning experience

Disadvantages to Constructivism

• Creation of cognitive overload• Potential misconceptions• Instructors may fail to detect problems and misconceptions

• Engage

• Explore

• Explain

• Elaborate

• Evaluate

• Science lesson plans lend themselves to this type of instruction.

• In our lesson we picked a lesson on spreading viruses.

• Students will be engaged by thinking back to a personal time when they were sick.o This will help them to build on their prior

knowledge of what it was like to be sick and to think about how they got sick in the first place.

• For the explorations the students will have a chance to see how sharing a drink 2 class mates can spread a sickness through the entire class.

• After the experiment students will have to explain how they got the sickness and how they think it spread from one to almost the entire class.

• Students will then elaborate to the rest of the class on who they think was originally infected.

• Once the class has come to a consensus on who was originally infected, the students will evaluate their learning by answering some questions.