This document discusses the theories and ideas of several prominent constructivist theorists including Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Lev Vygotsky, John Dewey, and Maria Montessori. It summarizes their key ideas such as Piaget's stages of cognitive development, Bruner's emphasis on discovery learning and a spiral curriculum, Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and scaffolding, Dewey's progressive education approach, and Montessori's child-centered practical learning activities. The document advocates for active, participatory, collaborative, experience-based learning strategies based on the constructivist view that learning is constructed from one's experiences and interactions with others and the environment.

1. By: Monica D’Angelo

2.  Profoundly influenced constructivist movement
 Perceived children think differently from adults
 Constructed 4 stages:
1)Sensorimotor
2)Preoperational
3)Concrete operational
4)Formal operational
 Adaption-cognitive understanding
at any given time
 Assimilation-new knowledge as
they experience new things
 Accommodation-fitting information
and experiences into their lives to change knowledge base

3.  Proposed learning is an active process in which the
learner constructs new ideas or concepts based on
current or past knowledge
 Constructive learners are participatory learners
 Cognition-individual progresses through different
intellectual stages
 Bruner felt teacher’s role should be to encourage
students, learning should be through discovery
 Socratic method-students learn how to analyze
problems, think critically, and defend their position
 Spiral curriculum-Bruner felt curriculum should be
organized in a spiral manner so students continue to
build

4.  Social cognition-learning influenced by social development
 Zone of proximal development-difference between the
problem solving ability that a child has learned and the
potential that the child can achieve
 Collaborative learning-guidance
from a more intelligent person to
help understand on their own
 Scaffolding-teachers should
discover level of child’s development
and build from that point
 Vygotsky felt students should
collaborate together to share different
perspectives to come up with a
deeper understanding

5.  Influenced American education significantly
 He believed learners should engage the
experience and educators should reflect
strategies and create activities that combine
concrete and practical relevance to student lives
 Began University Elementary
School in 1896
 Progressive education-educating
the whole child, physically,
mentally, and socially
 Pragmatism- theory is valuable
only for its practical application

6.  Based on a type of learning in
which the learner forms, or
constructs, much of what he or
she learns or comprehends

7.  Learning is an active process, as an educator
we need to give the learners something to do
 Provide activities which engage the mind as
well as the hands
 Group activities; our learning is intimately
associated with our connection with other
human beings
 Provide material that is connected to the state
of the learner, must provide a path into the
subject for the learner based on that learners
previous knowledge

8.  Offers many strategies for the Constructivist
learning environment
 When using Constructivist approach students
may complete a variety of activities while
learning about a topic which makes it easy to
integrate technology in the classroom
 Because the Constructivist Theory relies a lot
on social reconstruction, I would as an
educator not make technology based lessons
a priority

9.  I chose this learning process because I believe it
is the most functional and effective in the
classroom. I agree that learning starts when we
are very young and that this time is very
important because it is when we absorb the
most. As humans we learn from our experiences
and we build our knowledge off of what we have
been through. As a student now, it is most
beneficial to me when I am assigned an
assignment and am left alone to work on it and
my teacher is there just as a guide if I need help.
I learn from my mistakes and grow from them.

10.  http://humbertoschwab.net/my-favourite-
philosophers/john-dewey/
 http://www.nndb.com/people/359/0000940
77/
 http://5122psychology.pbworks.com/w/page
/992136/Lev%20Vygotsky

11.  Shelly, G., Gunter, G., & Gunter, R. (2012).
Integrating technology in a connected world.
Course Technology
 Hein, G. (1991, October 22). Institute of
inquiry. Retrieved from
http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/
constructivistlearning.html