Constructivist Classrooms
I am still reading In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms. There is a list of guiding principles that makes up most of the book. Some of them seem obvious, but it is good reading specific examples. Constructivist classrooms are easy to create in theory but more challenging in reality. I am planning on presenting these to the group of teachers I am working with at the moment.
1. Posing problems of emerging relevance to students - the teacher does this by understanding the relevance of the concepts and guaging student interest in those concepts
2. Structuring learning around primary concepts: the quest for essence - presenting problems holisitcally instead of in separate, isolated parts; whole --->part
3. Seeking and valuing students’ points of view - asking students to elaborate, rather than just giving “correct” or “incorrect” as feedback
4. Adapting curriclum to address students’ suppositions - students’ answers indicate suppositions; knowing these suppositions allows teachers to adapt curriculum
5. Assessing student learning in the context of teaching - using assessment as a service to the learner rather than an accountability device
As I work my way through the book, I can draw a lot of parallels to my own time in the classroom as a teacher. My classroom was a constructivist one. Granted, I didn’t have the same pressures as say an English or math teacher, but my classroom environment was always student-centered. I can remember asking kids to explain their answers, adapting curriculum and also constantly assessing where we were with our understandings. Which is the most difficult of these five? I’d have to say structuring learning around primary concepts. Too many of us really don’t know why we teach what we teach. If we don’t understand the over-arching themes, our students will never be able to get beyond the facts and will make no meaning of what is being done.
And how does technology fit into all of this? As skillful teachers, we must aim to seamlessly inter-twine technology use so that it supports the students work in relation to those enduring understandings. This requires a focus on the learning and not the technology. Too much focus on facts and technology use will lead to little good.
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