ED205 Online Blog

Constructivism is a theory that bases learning through experience. It takes what the student already knows about a subject and uses that to form new ideas or outcomes. I strongly believe in this style of learning. I watched the movie Jarhead last night in the movie theatre, and there was a scene where the Marines were out in the desert about to practice their sniper shooting. The Staff Sergeant asked one of the Marines to guess how far away the targets were, and he replied by saying “three football fields.” The Staff Sergeant, after telling him that was correct, told the Marines to take what they already know and use it in new situations. I think constructivism can be extremely helpful when learning new things, and the student will remember this new information better versus just recieving a lecture. Take for example, a social studies/history class. If they were studying about the judicial system, a class could put on a mock courtroom scenario, with jurors, judges, etc. Not only would this give the students hands-on experience with this subject, it is something that would keep them interested. I know of many people who did mock trials in high school. I was not fortunate enough to be one of those people, but I guarantee it would’ve kept me interested and looking forward to coming to class. I know for myself, if I am not interested in something, my mind almost blocks everything from that content off, because I don’t want to learn it. The key to teaching is making learning as fun/interesting as possible.

Another point of constructivism that I like is the fact that there aren’t any “right” or “wrong” answers. The student is able to take prior knowledge and make it into something else of their own (http://www.funderstanding.com/constructivism.cfm), which makes their learning more personal. I don’t think constructivism should be contreversial any way. Learning should be individualized as much as possible, and the constructivist approach is adaptable to each child’s learning, since they make their own conclusions and build on them. I believe constructivism is highly integrated with technology because people use what they already know about it to create their own projects. They are active in their own ideas, rather than focusing on other students’. We used constructivism in class. We learned about PowerPoint (some of us already knew a little), we created a project about ourselves, and we can use the knowledge we have on PP to use it later in our own classrooms or jobs. There are enless possiblilites with incorporating technology to our personal lives now to make it work for us later. Constructivism is an efficient way of learning, and I hope to incorporate it into my classroom in the future as much as possible.

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.”
-Doris Lessing