Constructivism

Donna Eustace and Eleanor Savko

(Last updated 01/2001)

"We construct our own understandings of the world in which we live"

"Schooling must be a time of curiosity, exploration, and inquiry, and memorizing information must be a subordinated to learning how to find information to solve real problems" --Brooks

Five Principals of Constructivist Pedagogy

1. Posing Problems of Emerging Relevance to Students
2. Structuring Learning Around Learning Primary Concepts: Essence
3. Seeking and Valuing Students' Points of View
4. Adapting Curriculum to Address Students' Suppositions
5. Assessing Student Learning in the Context of Teaching

Two School Environments

Traditional Classroom	Constructivist Classroom
Curriculum is part to whole with emphasis on basic skills	Curriculum is whole to part with emphasis on big concepts
Strict adherence to a fixed curriculum	Pursuit of student questions is highly valued
Curricular activities rely heavily on textbooks and workbooks	Curricular activities rely heavily on primary sources of data and manipulative materials
Students are viewed as "blank slates"	Students are viewed as thinkers with emerging theories about the world
Teachers behave in a didactic manner, disseminating information	Teachers behave in an interactive manner, mediating the environment for students
Teachers seek the correct answer to validate student learning	Teachers seek the student's points of view for use in subsequent lessons
Assessment of student learning is viewed as separate from teaching--done through testing	Assessment is interwoven with teaching-occurs through teacher observation and student exhibitions and portfolios
Students primarily work alone	Students primarily work in groups

Twelve Traits of a Constructivist Teacher

1. Constructivist teachers encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.
2. Constructivist teachers use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive, and physical material.
3. When framing tasks, constructivist teachers use cognitive terminologies such as classify, analyze, predict, and create.
4. Constructivist teachers allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies, and alter content.
5. Constructivist teachers inquire about students' understandings of concepts before sharing their own understanding concepts.
6. Constructivist teachers encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another.
7. Constructivist teachers encourage student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging student questions of one another.
8. Constructivist teachers seek elaboration of student initial responses.
9. Constructivist teachers engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses encourage discussion.
10. Constructivist teachers allow wait time after posing questions.
11. Constructivist teachers provide time for students to construct relationships and create metaphors.
12. Constructivist teachers nurture students' natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model.

Johnson, Doug. Is Technology Making a Difference in Your School? July 8, 1998.

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