|
Link - KEYWORD SEARCH RESULTS
Return to Links Main Page
8 - PRIMARY Keyword matches for ARTICLE
Click on any Title to go to that site
|
| Title |
Description |
|
The table below illustrates two polar opposites of learning theory. As with most things in life these should really be considered as two poles of a continuum. However, constructivism, in its different shades is undoubtedly in the ascendant.
Why is this relevant? Computer-based learning and distance learning has until relatively recently, and still is in some quarters, been based on an instructional design model which is fundamentally objectivist in its view of learning. Such a view means that the learning is delivered as a prescriptive teacher-centred self-contained package to meet assumed learner needs with no consideration of the aspects listed in the right-hand column of the table below. Naturally, the success or otherwise of such materials evaluation is also based on objectivist criteria. So we have the rather interesting situation that a course or resource can be judged as ‘excellent’ (or otherwise) if the evaluators are acolytes of objectivism but the same ‘excellent’ course or resource would fail miserably if the evaluators decided that they were now constructivists. So as long as you avoid producing learning resources or distance learning courses there’s no need to be concerned then? Wrong! Designing or developing learning resources and distance learning courses certainly makes public the basis of your design decisions, but the objectivist-constructivist models apply equally to how conventional campus-based, face-to-face courses are designed, developed and implemented.
|
|
If you’ve spent years learning to use Instructional Systems Design processes to create e-Learning, the slight anarchy inherent in constructivist design may leave you feeling a little dizzy. Before you decide that constructivism has nothing to offer your organization, read this article to get a more complete perspective on the techniques and the resources available.
|
|
- What is Constructivism? (Funderstanding)
- What is Constructivism? (Arts in Education, UWNY)
- What is Constructivism? (On Purpose Associates)
- What is Constructivism? (Michael Mahoney)
- Constructivist Learning Theory (J.L. Bencze)
- Constructivist Learning Theory (Arts in Education, UWNY)
- Classroom Compass Volume , Number : Constructivism (Southwest Education Development Lab)
- Cognitive Approach (Judith Conway)
|
|
The Theory of Constructivism
The basic tenets of constructivism are that:
* Knowledge is constructed from and shaped by experience.
* Students must take an active role and assume responsibility for their learning.
* Learning is a collaborative process and students create their own meaning from obtaining multiple perspectives.
* Learning should occur in a realistic setting.
* Learners should choose their own path through content and activities.
* Content should be presented holistically, not broken into separate smaller tasks.
|
|
IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERACTION, COURSE DESIGN, AND EVALUATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION.
Moore made the distinction between three types of interaction in distance education: learner-teacher, learnercontent, and learner-learner. Learner-content is the fundamental form of interaction on which all education is based. Learning occurs when learners interact with some content whether learning is defined as change in behavior, creation or modification of cognitive structures, or construction of shared meaning. Content is found in books, objects from the environment, abstract ideas, videotapes, computer programs, and websites, among others. The learner-teacher interaction can take the form of the teacher delivering instruction, lecturing, providing feedback, and encouraging the learner. In addition, learners might be interacting with the teacher by asking questions, submitting homework, and discussing problems with the teacher. The learner-learner interaction is what Moore called "a challenge to our thinking and practice. Learners collaborate with peers on projects, assignments, discussions, exchange ideas, and interact on topics that relate to the course.
|
|
It is generally acknowledged that constructivism constitutes a very important, although often contested, practical and theoretical perspective in current education research. A first `mild' (or ` . trivial') version of constructivism originating in the work of Piaget holds that knowledge is actively constructed by the learner and not passively transmitted by the educator. In addition, there is the radical constructivism of von Glasersfeld , in which cognition is considered adaptive in the sense that it is based on and constantly modified by a learner's experience. Beyond that, there is the social constructivist version of Vygotsky, who in an effort to challenge Piaget's ideas developed a fully cultural psychology stressing the primary role of communication and social life in meaning formation and cognition. The latter version of constructivism is accentuated by theories of sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), which argue that all knowledge is a social construct in the frame of science and technology studies.
The purpose of this paper is to present a brief review of the various streams of constructivism in studies of education.
|
|
That is, technologies should be used to keep students active, constructive, collaborative, intentional, complex, contextual, conversational, and reflective. What do these mean?
* Active: Learners are engaged by the learning process in mindful processing of information where they are responsible for the result. In natural learning situations, learners and performers of all ages, without the intervention of formal instruction, can acquire sophisticated skills and advanced knowledge about what they are learning. In all of these situations, learners are actively manipulating the objects and tools of the trade and learning by reflecting on what they have done.
* Constructive: Learners integrate new ideas with prior knowledge in order to make sense or make meaning or reconcile a discrepancy, curiosity, or puzzlement. They construct their own meaning for different phenomena. The models that they build to explain things are simple and unsophisticated at first, but with experience, support, and reflection, they become increasingly complex. As we explained earlier, we believe that it is impossible for learners to know what the teacher knows. They can only know what they know, so they should be supported in the process of coming to know.
* Collaborative: Learners naturally work in learning and knowledge building communities, exploiting each others skills while providing social support and modeling and observing the contributions of each member. Humans naturally seek out others to help them to solve problems and perform tasks.
* Intentional: All human behavior is goal directed (Schank, ). That is, everything that we do is intended to fulfill some goal. That goal may be simple, like satiating hunger or getting more comfortable, or it may be more complex, like developing new career skills. When learners are actively and willfully trying to achieve a cognitive goal (Scardamalia & Bereiter), they think and learn more. Learning environments need to support learners in articulating what their goals are in any learning situation.
* Complex: The greatest intellectual sin that we teachers commit is to oversimplify most ideas in order to make them more easily transmittable to learners. In addition to stripping ideas out of their normal contexts, we distill ideas to their simplest form so that students will more readily learn them. However, the world is not a reliable and simple place. Problems are multiple components and multiple perspectives and cannot be solved in predictable ways like the canned problems at the end of textbook chapters. We need to engage students in solving complex and ill-structured problems as well as simple problems (Jonassen, in press). Unless learners are required to engage in higher order thinking, they will develop oversimplified views of the world.
* Contextual: A great deal of recent research has shown that learning tasks that are situated in some meaningful real world task or simulated in some case-based or problem based learning environment are not only better understood, but also are more consistently transferred to new situations. Rather than abstracting ideas in rules that are memorized and then applied to other canned problems, we need to teach knowledge and skills in real life, useful contexts and providing new and different contexts for learners to practice using those ideas.
* Conversational: Learning is inherently a social, dialogical process (Duffy & Cunningham, ). That is, given a problem or task, people naturally seek out opinions and ideas form others. Technologies can support this conversational process by connecting learners across town or across the world. When learners become part of knowledge building communities both in class and outside of school, they learn that there are multiple ways of viewing the world and multiple solutions to most of life's problems.
* Reflective: Learners should be required by technology-based learning to articulation wha
|
|
Using Constructivism in Technology-Mediated Learning: Constructing Order out of the Chaos in the Literature
Constructivism learning theories are, essentially, a branch of philosophy that tries to understand how we construct knowledge. Constructivism theorists ask the following questions (Hofer and Pintrch, ; Jonasson, ):
What does it mean to know something?
How do we come to know it?
How does this knowledge influence our thinking processes?
The constructivists argue that the `systematic' process offered by instructionists is a problem. According to constructivists, there is nothing systematic about how we learn or construct knowledge. Rather, constructivists believe that knowledge is constructed socially using language (Vygotsy, ) and everyone has different social experiences resulting in multiple realities (Jonassen, ). Constructing knowledge, then, is a socio-linguistic process where there is gradual advancement of understandings built upon previous knowledge resulting in multiple dimensions of the truth (Spiro & Jehng, ; Sprio, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, ). If we accept the assumptions that there are multiple realities of what the truth must be and learning is based on prior knowledge, educators will need to acknowledge that they cannot assume that all their learners will understand new information in the same way (as the instructionists assume). Based on this assumption, constructivists argue that educators will need to understand that learners will require a variety of different experiences to advance to different kinds and levels of understanding. Thus we must bring our learners' prior knowledge to the forefront if they are to apply their current understandings to new situations in order to construct new knowledge. To achieve this, educators need to spend time understanding learner's current perspectives and, based on this information, incorporate learning activities that have real world relevance for each learner.
|
10 - SECONDARY Keyword matches for CONSTRUCTIONIST
Click on any Title to go to that site
Click on any Primary Key to search by that keyword
|
| Title |
Description |
|
This section examines different theories on how people learn:
* Constructivism
* Behaviorism
* Piaget's Developmental Theory
* Neuroscience
* Brain-Based Learning
* Learning Styles
* Multiple Intelligences
* Right Brain/Left Brain Thinking
* Communities of Practice
* Control Theory
* Observational Learning
* Vygotsky and Social Cognition
|
|
Bridging Theory and Practice: Developing Guidelines to Facilitate the Design of Computer-based Learning Environments
This paper examines the paradigm shift that has occurred in the design of computer-based learning, and considers the constructivist theory that has guided the development of recent design goals in online environments. Unlike the current constricting principles that have been developed to guide instructional designers, it offers suggestions for the adaptation of modest and generic guidelines that can be flexibly applied, allowing the designer to address the needs of each content-specific situation creating an unbounded, open experience for the learner, and the expression of true constructivist ideals in the online learning environment.
|
|
I. Introduction
II. What is E-Learning?
III. Efficacy of E- Learning.
IV. Market Environment
Flawed Assumptions of Early E-learning.
Successes and Failures in E-learning .
Costs and Benefits of E-learning .
Competitors.
Implications of the Market Assessment:
V. Augsburg ‘Fit’.
VI. Recommendations
. Embrace the Concept of a Hybrid Environment for Learning
. Focus Initial Efforts in Three Areas .
. Develop Plans for Other Areas to Move to a Hybrid Environment
. Faculty Support for Development of Teaching Skills in all Mediums
. Expansion of Student Support.
. Future Implications of a Hybrid Environment.
Development Process for Online Courses
Online Courses Approval Guidelines.
Online Teaching Best Practices .
|
|
Again and again, the history of the Web shows us the value of relinquishing control. Amazon’s customer comments were originally thought foolish by those who believed negative reviews would hurt sales. Instead, they increased trust, which drove more transactions. eBay’s open marketplace eschews centralized control of buyers and sellers, instead favoring a distributed management system where individuals rate one another. Not coincidentally, Google, Amazon, and eBay have all made available their Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) so that others can leverage their information in unforeseen and innovative ways.
Many designers find it remarkably difficult to relinquish control. As Jeff found out when judging an interactive design competition, designers will go to great lengths to control the user’s experience - popping up windows or resizing them, placing everything within Flash, cueing music. They get so caught up in controlling the superficial form of the product that they neglect to appreciate the context of the experience.
The Web’s lesson is that we have to let go, to exert as little control as necessary. What are the fewest necessary rules that we can provide to shape the experience? Where do people, tools, and content come together? How do we let go in a way that’s meaningful and relevant to our business?
|
|
Learning Theories - Some Strengths and Weaknesses
What are the perceived strengths and weaknesses of using certain theoretical approaches to instructional design?
Behaviorism
Weakness -the learner may find themselves in a situation where the stimulus for the correct response does not occur, therefore the learner cannot respond. - A worker who has been conditioned to respond to a certain cue at work stops production when an anomaly occurs because they do not understand the system.
Strength - the learner is focused on a clear goal and can respond automatically to the cues of that goal. - W.W.II pilots were conditioned to react to silhouettes of enemy planes, a response which one would hope became automatic.
Cognitivism
Weakness - the learner learns a way to accomplish a task, but it may not be the best way, or suited to the learner or the situation. For example, logging onto the internet on one computer may not be the same as logging in on another computer.
Strength - the goal is to train learners to do a task the same way to enable consistency. - Logging onto and off of a workplace computer is the same for all employees; it may be important do an exact routine to avoid problems.
Constructivism
Weakness - in a situation where conformity is essential divergent thinking and action may cause problems. Imagine the fun Revenue Canada would have if every person decided to report their taxes in their own way - although, there probably are some very "constructive" approaches used within the system we have.
Strength - because the learner is able to interpret multiple realities, the learner is better able to deal with real life situations. If a learner can problem solve, they may better apply their existing knowledge to a novel situation.
|
|
Prescriptive Models
Behaviorist
Prescribed Methodologies
Modern Approaches
Phenomenological Models
Cognitivist
Constructivist
Postmodern Approaches
Comparative Summaries
Behaviorism vs
Cognitivism vs
Constructivism
Models, like myths and metaphors, help us to make sense of our world. Whether it is derived from whim or from serious research, a model offers its user a means of comprehending an otherwise incomprehensible problem. An instructional design model gives structure and meaning to an I.D. problem, enabling the would-be designer to negotiate her design task with a semblance of conscious understanding. Models help us to visualize the problem, to break it down into discrete, manageable units.
The value of a specific model is determined within the context of use. Like any other instrument, a model assumes a specific intention of its user. A model should be judged by how it mediates the designer's intention, how well it can share a work load, and how effectively it shifts focus away from itself toward the object of the design activity.
Models, like other tools, shape the consciousness of those who use them. The tool molds the wielder who molds the tool, ad infinitum. Our models frame the reality we impose on the world and the experience that is forged out of their use brings us to higher levels of understanding about the design problem, but only within the framework of the specific models we adopt.
|
|
Behaviorism: concerned with stimulus-response theories that define learning as establishing an associative link between a particular stimulus and a particular response.
Cognitivism: arose from a reaction to behaviorism because they felt that behaviorism's emphasis on the link between a stimulus and a response was not sufficient to account for all human activities.
Constructivism: learning is an active process of constructing, rather than acquiring, knowledge and that the goal of instruction is to support that construction rather than trying to transmit knowledge.
|
|
This site is designed for visually oriented learners. It has mindmaps (study aids) which will help you understand the whole picture of complicated subjects. These enjoyable and fun maps can be used as memory triggers during study. As a visual learner, I use Mindmaps as a tool for more complete learning. You can use them too!
This site has Learning Theories and Theorist's study aids, Accelerated Learning Mindmaps, and extensive links to interesting theory sites.
|
|
The "edge of chaos" is a critical state between order and chaos in which nonlinear systems (e.g., interacting teacher and students) are at their optimum performance potential or maximum adaptability. Systems poised at the edge of chaos are maximally adaptive because of the complex connections and distinctions of their interacting agents. This complexity implies that the interacting agents are distinct enough to permit flexibility and yet connected enough to establish stability. Highly ordered assemblages such as crystals lack complexity because they have rigidly connected molecules without flexibly distinct movement. On the other extreme, highly chaotic assemblages such as gases also lack complexity because they have flexibly distinct molecules without structured connections. However, interacting agents on the edge of chaos such as students and a teacher are complex because they are distinct enough to permit flexible change and yet connected enough to establish stability. Furthermore, they can generate a holistic system of interaction that is emergent and not reducible to the individual agents. In other words, the whole is more than the sum of the parts.
Complexity may be further defined as "the ability to switch between different modes of behavior as the environmental conditions are varied" (Prigogine & Nicolis, , p. - ). Complex systems on the edge of chaos permit a flexible openness and sensitivity to varied options, which enable these systems to continually find and select the most attractive options of adjusting, replacing, or reorganizing at a higher level of fitness. However complex systems, which are either rigidly bound by ordered conditions (fused connections) or indiscriminately scattered by chaotic conditions (confused distinctions), are not able to continually adapt to higher levels of fitness (complexity).
|
|
The notion "radical constructivism" (RC) was coined by Ernst von Glasersfeld in in order to emphasize that from an epistemological perspective any constructivism has to be complete (or "radical") in order not to relapse into some kind of fancy realism. The basic tenet of RC is that any kind of knowledge is constructed rather than perceived through senses. .
On a slightly different path, the cybernetic one, Heinz von Foerster approached the topic of what was called second order cybernetics. It focuses on self-referential systems and the importance of eigenbehaviors for the explanation of complex phenomena. Eventually, this idea would emerge the concept of "operational closure": any cognitive system is semantically independent (and impenetrable). From the late s to the mid s, HvF had been running the Biological Computer Laboratory (BCL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which was a dwell of people thinking in similar lines. Among others, prominent members of the BCL were
* Humberto Maturana who, as the founder of the theory of autopoiesis, focuses on the central role of the observer;
* Francisco Varela who developed the ideas of circularity and 'enacted' cognition further;
* W. Ross Ashby who was a main figure in the cybernetics movement;
* Gordon Pask who developed a conversation theory.
|
|
