The way our students learn can inform our teaching practice. According to social constructivist theory children learn by taking an active role in constructing meaning. Knowledge resides in the individuals and it is not transferred from teachers to students. The students try to make sense of what is taught by trying to fit it with their experience. Using this perspective science is taught not as the search for truth but by actively engaging children in the social process of making sense of experiences.
Main features of this model of teaching are:
1.Students construct understanding in science by actively engaging with the phenomena. They ask and refine questions, they predict and explain phenomena.
2.To develop their understanding students need to use and apply their knowledge. Teachers have to consider students' prior knowledge. Teacher help students identify and use multiple resources.
3. Learning involves developing multiple representations of ideas that integrate understanding. Multiple representations are varied evaluation techniques used by teachers and students products and artifacts.
4. Students learn in social context. They use language to express knowledge, debate and come to resolution regarding ideas, concepts and theories they are taught. They get help from knowledgeable others in learning new ideas and skills they could not learn on their own.
5. Students must learn by addressing problems that are authentic, relate to real situations, relevant to students outside of school.
Teacher is scaffolding student's learning by proving support in problem solving activities that are beyond the capacity of the learner. Scaffolding can be provided by other knowledgeable peers, parents and community members. The instructor and the student co-construct the solution to the problem. Scaffolding is used selectively when needed and it should correspond to the level of help needed by student to provide understanding and learning.
As a teacher I should be aware of the ways students learn. I should consider their prior knowledge and experiences students bring to the classroom. I should plan activities in the classroom that would actively involve students, activities that are related to their life out of the classroom. Students would be making inquiries, exploring the topics by questioning, refining their questions, making predictions and offering explanations. Students should feel free to express their opinions, to engage in discussions and group work. Students will control their own learning by reflection on their experiences. I would encourage team work and collaboration between students. Different learners will respond in a different way to various assessment techniques so if I want to evaluate students appropriately I would have to use various forms of assessments.
More sophisticated reflection on the social constructivist model of teaching
ReplyDeleteReading " A Social Constructivist Model of Teaching" by Krajcik gave me completely different insight into all my previous public education. I wonder why my generation and generations after were not taught this way. If only our teachers knew, that there was a different and better method. Yes, we did experiments in chemistry and biology. I wish we did more. I wish physics which I had since the 6th grade of elementary school was taught better with these hands-on activities. Instead emphasis was on calculations of problems and our presentation of a concept. We would go in front of the blackboard, teacher would give us three topics and we would talk about it and solve few problems mathematically related to it. And then we had tests, but they were not standardized. But now I see that I would have grasped the content much easier if we had demonstrations, or if we were engaged into projects, making our own hypothesis. I cannot think of a elementary or high school in ex Yugoslavia that based its principles on social constructivism. But I really cannot speak for all of them. I really don't know how they taught physics and chemistry in grammar schools in Belgrade ( capital of ex Yugoslavia) or Zagreb. But I would say majority did rote memorization and lot calculations, and mathematical problems. However, when I was attending my first year at the College of Technology and taking Physics on the first year, we had lab classes where we conducted our experiments. Unfortunately it was not similar to this project-based science proposed in Krajcik book.