The farmer had to transport his possessions - a dog, chicken, and sack of grain - across a river using an old abandoned boat that could only hold himself and one item. If he left the dog with the chicken, the dog would eat the chicken. If he left the chicken with the grain, the chicken would eat the grain. The farmer had to figure out how to get all his possessions across safely.

1. A farmer traveling to market
took three possessions with him:
his dog, a chicken, and a sack of
grain. On his way he came to a
Theory
http://beupnty.blogspot.com/2010/09/el-constructivismo.html
river which he had to cross.
Unfortunately, the only available
transportation was an old
abandoned boat that would hold
only himself and one of his
possessions. Taking his
possessions across one at a time
posed a problem, however. If he
left his very reliable dog with the
1) Create real-world environments that Activity
employ the context in which learning is chicken, the dog would very
relevant; reliably eat the chicken. If he left
2) Focus on realistic approaches to the chicken with the grain, the
solving real-world problems; chicken would eat the grain and
3) The instructor should be a coach and then burst, improving neither of
analyser of the strategies used to solve them.
these problems;
4) Stress conceptual inter-relatedness, How did the farmer manage to
providing multiple representations or
perspectives on the content; get all his possessions safely
across the river?
5) Instructional goals and objectives
should be negotiated and not imposed;
6) Evaluation should serve as a
(From The Complete Problem
self-analysis tool; Solver by John R. Hayes)
7) Provide tools and environments that
CONSTRUCTIVISM
help learners interpret the multiple
perspectives of the world; Von Glasersfeld (1995) indicates in
relation to the concept of reality: "It is
8) Learning should be internally made up of the network of things and
controlled and mediated by the learner relationships that we rely on in our living,
In classes and on which, we believe, others rely on,
too"
1) Provide multiple representations of
reality; the notion of viability: "To the
constructivist, concepts, models, theories,
2) Represent the natural complexity of and so on are viable if they prove
the real world; In Education Principles adequate in the contexts in which they
were created"
3) Focus on knowledge construction, not
He sees knowledge as being actively
reproduction;
received either through the senses or by
way of communication. It is actively
4) Present authentic tasks
constructed by the cognising subject.
(contextualizing rather than abstracting
Cognition is adaptive and allows one to
instruction);
organize the experiential world, not to
discover an objective reality (von
5) Provide real-world, case-based
Glasersfeld, 1989)
learning environments, rather than
pre-determined instructional sequences;
He sees knowledge as being actively
6) Foster reflective practice;
received either through the senses or by
way of communication. It is actively
7) Enable context-and content dependent
constructed by the cognising subject.
knowledge construction;
Cognition is adaptive and allows one to
organize the experiential world, not to
8) Support collaborative construction of
discover an objective reality
knowledge through social negotiation
Radical
In Instructional Design Classification
social constructivism "sees consensus
1) Embed learning in a rich authentic
between different subjects as the ultimate
problem-solving environment;
criterion to judge knowledge. 'Truth' or
'reality' will be accorded only to those
2) Provide for authentic versus academic
constructions on which most people of a
contexts for learning;
social group agree"
Social
3) Provide for learner control;
4) Use errors as a mechanism to provide
feedback on learners' understanding
(pp.59-61).
In teaching and learning
CONSTRUCTIVISM.mmap - 29/11/2011 - Mindjet