Constructionism assumes that students create their ideas as opposed to just having them. Therefore, when working with material in class, they must either assimilate or accomodate what they are presented to create an equilibrium and form or reshape their schemata. Learning by design and project-based learning are, in my mind, perfect ways to allow students to engage real world material, things that they must in someway assimilate or accomodate into their own ideas and beliefs.
I have long thought that I was a teacher pushing for project-based learning. I have even talked about it throughout my coursework at Walden. While I do not believe what I have said in the past was wrong, I do believe what I have been developing in my own classroom more closely resembles learning by design. According to Seungyeon Han and Kakali Bhattacharya (Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology, 2012), there are seven components of learning by design. These are:
The pieces that I have tried to create are still not perfectly aligned to these seven components. But if you consider that constructivism is all about people creating or shaping their schemata based off of assimilating or accomodating new data, then what better way to incorporate the opportunity for students to do just that. The activities are clearly defined and based in the real-world. Rather than trying to teach students through abstract ideas which they may not have any clue how to incorporate into their thinking, it only makes sense to take things that they may actually encounter (and perhaps already have to some degree) and let them build upon it.
I believe all of this is true within project-based learning as well. Students need clearly defined expectations. They need the chance to work with others, especially those whose schemata differs from their own. The only way to find the value in your beliefs is to have them challenged and see how you respond. Upon reflection, you will either feel validated or you will know that you have to make adjustments. This is, I feel, the way students need to be driven. Teachers can provide a lot of material, and perhaps students will be able to remember it and apply some of it. But the only way to truly push students and make what they learn have value and meaning is to put them in a position to create their own ideas.
Your summary of constructionism is very clear and makes it easy to understand . . . ultimately proving that you have finally grasped the concept. I too had difficulty understanding it fully when getting my undergraduate degree.
ReplyDeleteTime seems to always be an issue as I think about implementation. Of course project based learning seems to be one of the best ways to teach. However, designing a project with all of the seven criteria discussed that also includes standards and content is not only time consuming in terms of planning, but in implementation. I love using projects and problems, they just always seem to be those type of activities that you say are going to take three days and two weeks later I am still struggling to finish. At that point the value is a debatable. So I guess I am wondering how to include so much into a project without having it carry the class away? Any thoughts?
I think about this a lot. There are many days when I wonder why I did not become a social studies teacher because of how fluidly I can see everything flowing together with dates and events. But, I suppose I still can do a lot, perhaps even more, in language arts. This is all going to sound way easier than it is. My principal tells me that I have these grand ideas that sometimes are light on the details. But I believe that if you start with the end, that being what students ultimately need to learn, you can almost create a plug-n-play scenario for a project. For example, I knew I wanted my students to learn all the different elements of a piece of fiction (plot, theme, etc). I also wanted to take my unit past this and make it relevant to what students recognize in today's world. So, what we had was a video project where students had to explain a story through its pieces and then relate them to something larger, a real world theme and how we could apply that lesson to our lives. Like I said, big idea, shy on the details. But as we began moving through the project, I was able to fit in the various parts about plot, character motives, and theme. And students were able to talk to one another. Bouncing those ideas off of one another really helped them out in the long run. This may not make sense, but rather than having a project that over-shadows the pieces that have to be taught and can eventually carry away the class, I think a teacher can create something powerful by having an ultimate goal and using those necessary pieces to reach the goal. That way, your class never gets taken over by a grand project that after three days seems like wasted time.
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