Question

Many constructivist approaches to learning recommend five conditions for learning. In light of these five​ conditions, contrast traditional classroom teaching with teaching based on these constructivist conditions.

Answer 1

The constructivist view of learning is that we are active creators of our own knowledge. Constructivism is a theory based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. According to this theory, people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

Robert Gagne identifies five major categories of learning, these are:

1. Verbal information

2. Intellectual skills

3. Cognitive strategies

4. Motor skills

5. Attitudes

Gagne's theoretical framework covers all aspects of learning, the focus of the theory is on intellectual skills. He suggested that intellectual skills can be organized in a hierarchy according to complexity: stimulus recognition, response generation, procedure following, use of terminology, discrimination, concept formation, rule application, and problem solving. Hierarchy helps identify prerequisites that should be completed to facilitate learning at each level.

In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices. These include encouraging students to use active techniques like experiments, real-word problem solving etc to create more knowledge and then reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the student's preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.

The following are the differences between traditional classroom teaching and constructivist teaching:-

1. Traditional classroom teaching is the common basic model of teaching where teaching adheres strictly to a fixed curriculum. Materials for study include primary textbooks and workbooks. Constructivists emphasize on student questions and interests. Materials for study can be manipulated to suit student interest and capacity.

2. Teacher's role in traditional classroom teaching is rooted in authority. Teachers disseminate information to students and seek the correct answer to validate student learning. In contrast, in constructivist teaching the teacher functions more like a facilitator who coaches, mediates, prompts, and helps students develop and asses their understanding thus their learning.

3. Students in a traditional classroom are passive and work primarily alone whereas students in a constructivist classroom are more active and construct their own knowledge thus they are actively involved in their own process of learning.

4. Traditional classroom teaching stresses on rote memorization as learning here is based on repetition. However constructivist learning is interactive. It transforms students from a passive recepient of information to an active participant in the learning process.

5. Traditional methodologies are a teacher-training method of teaching while constructivist teaching is student-centered learning.

6. Student assessment occurs through conducting tests and correcting answers in traditional classroom teaching whereas in constructivist classroom assessment occurs through student exhibitions, personal experiences and other active techniques such as experiments.

7. Constructivists argued that the learner is not a blank slate but an information constructor who brings past experiences and cultural factors to construct new knowledge in a given situation. In contrast to traditional form of teaching, constructivism activates the student's inborn innate curiosity about the real world to observe how things work.

8. Students in traditional teaching tend to loose focus and information is quickly forgotten because students do not engage in high-order thinking. In contrast, in constructivist method of teaching, class discussions is encouraged. This stimulates their communication skills, argumentation skills, and problem solving skills.

9. Critical thinking skills are developed in constructivist approach as students are allowed to determine their own learning objectives with the teacher acting as their guide and counselor. Traditional classroom teaching doesn't give room for this as the classes here are dominated by direct unilateral instruction following a fixed body of knowledge.

10. The various theories of constructivist learning are the Social Learning theory of Albert Bandura, Child Development theory of Jean Piaget, Learning as a cognitive building process developed by Lev Vygotsky, Discovery learning theory of Jerome Bruner, and Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory.