MY TAKE ON CONSTRUCTIVISM

Constructivist education is providing a framework for your students in which they can learn part by instruction and part by experience.

At its deepest level constructivist education teaches a student to teach themselves. In this way they are able to comprehend how they themselves best learn ie Gardeners theory of multiple intelligences - kinesthetic, image based learning, logically, musically etc...

Constructivist education means setting a task for your students which engages them on the most appropriate level by which they can learn. For drama, contructivist theory is the ultimate pedagogical paradigm in which a student can learn.

The classic Drama teacher line - "Don't tell me. Show me!"

CONSTRUCTIVIST PEDAGOGY

Developmentally appropriate teacher supported learning that is initiated and directed by the student. The teacher facilitates a variety of potential learning avenues to cater for the different mulitple intelligences within the classroom. Via the dialogue of this social negotiation and with peer interaction and subsequent reflection students construct their own knowledge on a particular subject matter.

3 Types:

• Cognitive Constructivism - mental constructions of reality.
• Radical Constructivism - experiential constructions of reality.
• Social Constructivism - 'socially agreed upon' construction of reality. The context in which the learning occurs is central to the learning itself.

CONSTRUCTIVISM V INSTRUCTIVISM

Facilitator v Dictator

Active v Passive

Dialogue with Students v Monolgue to Students

1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.
2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.
3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.
4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner's prior knowledge.
5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.
6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware.
7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors.
8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content i.e. cater for multiple intelligences to shape a collective and individual viewpoint.

http://edpsychserver.ed.vt.edu/workshops/tohe1999/pedagogy.html

LEV VYGOTSKY

Russian Revolutionary Psychologist and Teacher in early 20th C.

• 'Zone of Proximal Development': the gap between actual development level (independant problem solving) and potential development level (adult and peer guided collaborative problem solving)

NB - learner's are continually challenged slightly above their current level of development. By experiencing the successful completion of challenging tasks, learners gain cofidence and motivation to embark on more complex challenges.

• Cultural Mediation and Internalisation: higher mental functions develop through social interactions > knowledge construction > internalisation
• Psychology of Play: with role play and imagination a child creates their own ZPD
• Thought and Language: interrelationship between speech (inner monolgue and outer dialogue) and development of mental concepts and metacognition (thinking/reasoning about ones thinking through association, memory, perception, calculation).

NB - Metacognition and Construcvtivism go hand in hand. And there are two levels of metacognition: conscious and unconscious. The fusion of the 2 is the most fascinating product. e.g. Performance Research + Rehearsal + Natural Acting Ability and gift for Empathising.

JEAN PIAGET

Vygotsky's Western Contemporary. Swiss psychologist and educator.

• The Stages of Cognitive Development: through trial and error a child/individual constructs their own cognitive faculty

1. Sensorimotor ( senses and movement) - Birth > 2yrs
2. Preoperational (acquisition of motor skills) - 2 > 7yrs
3. Concrete Operational (logical constructs about adult events) - 7 > 11yrs
4. Formal Operational Stage (development of abstract reasoning) - 11yrs +

Each new stage builds upon the previous one. Through process is:

objectification > reflection > abstraction > knowledge construction