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2. CONSTRUCTIVISM MAIN MENU
 The theory
 The founders
 The classroom

3. THE THEORY
 Match teaching style to student’s learning style
 Learning is an active process of knowledge construction
 Influenced by how one interacts with and interprets new ideas
 Process of making sense of the world
 Social interaction plays a role in learning
"If children work toward pleasing the
teacher instead of satisfying their natural
search for understanding, they will not
progress toward intellectual autonomy“
-Waite-Stupiansky

4. HOW THE THEORY WORKS
 Learning is not the result of development; learning is development
 Teachers should thus allow learners to raise their own questions
 Students then generate their own hypotheses and models as
possibilities
 Students can then test their ideas for viability

5. THE FOUNDERS
 Jean Piaget
 Jerome Bruner
 Lev Vygotsky
 John Dewey

6. JEAN PIAGET
Children build knowledge based on what they already know during cognitive stages:
Sensorimotor: senses and motor actions
Preoperational: symbols and images; pretend games
Concrete operational: logic; learn facts; understand other’s
point of view
Formal operational: abstract; hypothesis and cause/effect
relationships

7. JEROME BRUNER
 Learner constructs new ideas based on past knowledge
 Learning is an active process
 Students learn best through a variety of activities

8. LEV VYGOTSKY
 Social cognition: learning influenced by social development
 Zone of proximal development: difference between problem solving ability
learned and the potential if collaborated with an advanced peer or expert
 Collaborative learning: working together with different perspectives creates
deeper understanding

9. JOHN DEWEY
 Child centered instruction with school as a community
 School as an extension of society with children as active participants
 Created University Elementary School (Laboratory School) with student directed
learning
 Progressive education: mentally, physically and socially

10. THE CLASSROOM
 Shift from whole class to small group instruction
 Coach rather than lecture
 Keep students are more actively engaged
 More cooperative and less competitive
 Integration of both visual and verbal thinking
 Pose questions that relate to real-life experiences and the community

11. THE CLASSROOM CON’T
 Actively engage students in discovery learning with Web Quests and
scavenger hunts
 Create discussions using the Socratic method to analyze problems and
think critically
 Build on what students already know through anchored instruction
 Use educational video games for problem solving and to simulate real
life activities
 Have students take ownership of their own learning

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Matthews, William J. “Constructivism in the Classroom: Epistemology, History, and
Empirical Evidence”. Teacher Education Quarterly, Vol. 30, Issue 3. 2002.
Education Full Text
Powell, Katherine C. and Kalina, Cody J. “Cognitive and Social Constructivism:
Developing Tools for an Effective Classroom”. Education. Vol. 130 Issue 2,
p241-250. 2009. Education Full Text
Shelly, Gary B., Gunter, Glenda A. and Gunter, Randolph E. Teachers Discovering
Computers. Boston: Cengage Learning. 2012. Print.
Yilmaz, Kaya. “Constructivism: Its Theoretical Underpinnings, Variations, and
Implications for Classroom Instruction”. Educational Horizons, Vol. 86, Issue 3.
2008. Education Full Text.