Social Constructivism

Social Constructivism

Knowledge is socially constructed through interaction and negotiation of the ideas of others (Chen, 2014).   

Social Constructivism

In the constructivist classroom, the focus tends to shift from the teacher to the students. The classroom is no longer a place where the teacher pours knowledge into passive students; now students are actively involved in their own process of learning.

Social Constructivism and Technology

Instruction goes from whole class to groupsFacilitating rather than lecturingStudents are engaged and learn to work with others

Implementation into the Classroom

Know your studentsThe aim is to shift students beyond what they already know, to what they are capable of learning with support and scaffolding

Implementation into the Classroom

Bubbl Us- students brainstorm a new concept. Each student introduces an idea while their peers extend on the ideas and current understanding.Pose problems relevant to students

Implementation into the Classroom

Online collaborative spaces- e.g. wikis, blogs, prezi. Students share their current understanding and knowledge, their peers extend on this and add new ideas. Students find information about their class members- Q and A.

DE BONO’S SIX THINKING HATS

Social constructivism creates a student centred learning experience and environment. This can be achieved by utilizing a wiki space and the Six Thinking Hats developed by Andrew De Bono. The De Bono activity completed in Week 2 (mobile phones) of my blog introduced the concept of working and contributing ideas to a group editing page. A similar activity can be used in the classroom.  

The De Bono activity was a beneficial scaffolding tool that allowed for a large number of people to collaborate and communicate their thoughts and ideas. Collecting and collating the perspectives from 5 to 6 people, identified and increased my understanding of the topic and encouraged reconsideration of my knowledge and teaching methods. Using De Bono's Hats and the wiki produced an appealing and fun learning task, while at the same time stimulated participation, collaboration, sharing of perspectives, various teaching methods and interaction.

De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats