1. LESSON 11
The Computer as
the Teacher’s Tool
BICOLBICOL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
GUINOBATAN, ALBAY
PREPARED BY:
BARBARA P. VILLACERAN
III-Bachelor in Agricultural Technology –
Agricultural Technology Education
2. . . . we shall again look at the computer, but this time from
another perspective the computer as the teacher’s handy-
tool. It can in fact support the constructivist and social
constructivist paradigms of constructivist learning.
3. Constructivism was introduced by Piaget (1981)
and Bruner (1990). They give stress to
knowledge discovery of new
meaning/concepts/principles in learning
process.
4. Various strategies have been suggested to foster
knowledge discovery.
Making students engaged
in gathering unorganized
information from which
they can induce ideas and
principles
Apply discovered knowledge to
new situations, a process for
making their knowledge
applicable for real life
situations.
5. Social constructivism
is an effort to show that the
construction of knowledge is
governed by social, historical and
cultural contexts.
6. In effect, this is to say that the
learner who interprets
knowledge has a
predetermined point of view
according to the social
perspectives of the
community or society he lives
in.
7. The psychologist Vygotsky stressed that
learning is affected by social influences. He
therefore, suggested, the interactive process
in learning.
8. In addition, Dewey sees
language as a medium for
social coordination and
adaptation. For Dewey,
human learning is really
human languaging that occurs
when students socially share,
build and agree upon
meanings and knowledge.
9. Difference between the Two Learning
Perspectives
Learning
Framework
Constructivism Social
Constructivism
Assumption Knowledge is constructed
by the individual
Knowledge is constructed
within a social context
Definition of Learning Students build their own
learning
Students build knowledge
influenced by the social
context
Learning Strategies Gather unorganized
information to create new
concept/principle
Exchange and share form
ideas, stimulates thinking
General Orientation Personal discovery of
knowledge
Students discuss and
discover meanings
10. The Computer’s Capabilities
• Provide access to information
• Foster creative social knowledge-building
• Enhance the communication of the
achieved project package.
11. Without the computer, today’s learners may
still be assuming the tedious tasks of low
level information gathering, building and
new knowledge packaging. But this is not
so, since the modern computer can help
teacher-and-students to focus more on high
level cognitive tasks.
12. Based on the two learning theories, the teacher
can employ the computer as a/an:
• An information tool
• A communication tool
• A constructive tool
• As co-constructive tool
• A situating tool
13. Informative Tool
The computer can provide vast amounts of
information in various forms, such as texts, graphics
sounds, and video. Even multimedia encyclopedia
are today available on the internet.
15. Constructive Tool
The computer itself can be used for
manipulating information, visualizing one’s
understanding , and building new knowledge.
The Microsoft Word computer progress itself
is a desktop publishing software that allows
users to organize and present their ideas in
attractive formats.
16. Co-constructive Tools
This can be used by the students to work
cooperatively and construct a shared understanding
of new knowledge.
One way of co-construction is the use of the
electronic whiteboard where students may post
notices to a shared document or whiteboard.
Students may also co-edit the same document from
their homes.
17. Situating Tool
By means of virtual
reality extension
systems, the
computer can create
3-D images on
display to give the
user the feeling that
are situated in a
virtual environment.
18. A school-to-school or classroom-to-
classroom environment is possible
whereby the user can choose to walk
around the campus, talk with other
users who are logged to the same site.
