2. MAIN POINTS OF CONSTRUCTIVISM
• The learner is an active and constructive process.
• The learner is a constructor of information.
• New information is linked to prior knowledge.
• Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and
hypotheses of the environment
• Learning is not seen as a “blank state.”
• Students learn by doing and being hands-on.
3. FOUR LEADING THEORISTS OF
CONSTRUCTIVISM
• Jean Piaget
• Jerome Bruner
• Lev Vigotsky
• John Dewey
4. JEAN PIAGET
• A psychologist who developed
cognitive learning theory after
studying children for many
years.
• He believed that children were
active learners and did not
need adults to motivate them.
• He believed that children were
learning on their own while
moving through different
cognitive stages and building
on what they already knew.
5. PIAGET’S FOUR COGNITIVE STAGES
• Stage 1: Sensorimotor- Learning takes place when the child
uses his/her motor actions.
• Stage 2: Preoperational- Children begin to use symbols and
images.
• Stage 3: Concrete Operational- This happens at age 7, when
children begin to think logically.
• Stage 4: Formal Operational- This happens at age 12, when
children switch from concrete to abstract thinking.
6. JEROME BRUNER
• An American psychologist.
• Bruner proposed that learning
is a active process. Children
create new ideas based on
past or current knowledge.
• He believed that constructivist
learners are more actively
engaged in the learning
process.
7. LEV VYGOTSKY
• Russian educational psychologist.
• Developed “Social Cognition.”
• Believed that learning is mostly influenced by
social development.
• He came to the conclusion that learning took place
within the a child’s social development and culture.
• Vygotsky believed that children have a “zone of
proximal development,” which is the difference
between problem solving and the potential they
have if peered up with a teacher.
• Also came up with “collaborative learning,” which
is when a child is paired with an adult or another
child who is more advanced.
8. JOHN DEWEY
• Dewey was a educational
psychologist, philosopher, and political activist.
• He believed that learning should be engaging and
expand the learner’s experience.
• He encouraged educators to create activities would
relate to their students everyday lives.
• In 1896 Dewey created the University Elementary
School, also known as a Laboratory School.
• At the school Dewey wanted the students to basically
learn by working together with a teacher there to
serve only as a guide.
• In the 1900’s Dewey joined the “progressive
education” which was a movement that focused on
educating a child physically, mentally, and socially.
9. TECHNOLOGY AND CONSTRUCTIVISM
• Constructivist learners can benefit a lot from technology.
• Students will be able to complete a variety of different activities while
learning a topic.
• Ex. Students could be learning about photosynthesis and how it works.
• Students will be able to go to certain informational websites to find out
what photosynthesis means, how it works, and why it happens.
• They can then take notes about what they found using a word document.
• Study vocabulary words using electronic flash cards.
• After taking notes they could create a replica or draw picture of how
photosynthesis works.
10. WHAT TEACHERS DO UNDER THE
CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY
• Teachers do their best to provide students with an environment
where they can construct their own knowledge from a lesson.
With this in mind a more hands on or conceptual lesson would
be best as this allows the student to come to one of many viable
conclusions regarding the lesson. Teachers must also come to
view themselves as facilitators allowing the student to lead the
construction of knowledge towards an area they value.
11. WHAT STUDENTS DO UNDER THE
CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY
• Students take the lead under the constructivist theory and are
the constructors of their own knowledge with a teacher as a
facilitator. Students decide what is important and what is
valuable within the lesson while the teacher provides guidance.
12. KEY CONCEPTS OF THEORY
• Learning as experience, activity, and dialogical process.
• Problem based learning.
• Anchored Instruction.
• Vygotsky Zone of Proximal Development.
• Inquiry and discovery learning.
13. FINAL THOUGHTS
• We firmly believe that constructivism would be a terrific form of
teaching. We believe that much of learning is objective and is
only as meaningful as the learner allows. In our opinion
especially because we are students ourselves, we feel that
students should be in charge of their learning and that teachers
should indeed be facilitators and provide students with guidance
towards their own goals that they as the learner have set for
themselves.
14. CREDITS
• Jean Piaget photo
• Jerome Bruner photo
• Lev Vygotsky photo
• John Dewey photo
