1. Jean Piaget
Jerome Bruner
Constructivism
Lev Vygotsky
Jessica
John Dewey

2. Key Points of Theory
• Students learn by doing
• Learning is an active and constructive process (constructivism)
• Students learn based on having a hands-on experience and forming what they learn
• Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and hypotheses of the environment
(constructivism)
• There are 4 leading theorists of constructivism

3. Key People with Theory
• Jean Piaget
– Profoundly influenced constructivist movement
– Children construct new knowledge and build on old knowledge as they move through different
stages
– 4 cognitive stages
• Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
– Adaptation- A childs’ cognitive understanding or development at any time
– Assimilation-The process by which a person takes material into their mind from the environment,
which may mean changing the evidence of their senses to make it fit (Atherton 2011)
– Accommodation-This information or experiences are used to help a child make sense of their
environment and to change their knowledge base
• Jerome Bruner
– In an active learned new ideas and concepts are learned based on past or current knowledge
– Encourages an integrated curriculum where students learn a topic in various ways or though many
different activities
– Students can use a variety of technology to research 1 topic
– Cognition-An individual progresses through different intellectual stages
– Socratic method-When a student learns how to analyze problems, think critically about own point of
view and the opinions of others, and articulate and defend their position
– Spiral curriculum-Students build on what they have already learned

4. Key People Continued
• Lev Vygotsky
– Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development (constructivism)
– Zone of proximal development-The difference between the problem-solving ability that the child
has learned and the potential that the child can achieve from collaboration with a more advanced
peer or expert
– Collaborative learning-If a child worked with an advanced peer or adult he or she would be able to
learn concepts that are more advanced then the child could understand on his own
– Scaffolding-When a teacher discovers a childs’ cognitive/developmental level and builds their
learning experiences from that point
– Anchored instruction-A model for technology-based learning and is a form of instruction where the
student has already learned concepts and information. This forms an anchor or basis for other
information to connect to and build on
• John Dewey
– Learning should engage and expand the experiences of the learners
– Progressive education-Focuses on educating the whole child, and not on just giving him or her facts
and information
– Pragmatism-The truth of a theory could only be determined if a theory worked

5. Classroom Implications
• What the teacher does under this theory (with and without technology)
– Encourage students to use active techniques
– Provide students with different materials for research (i.e.. computers or books)
– Show changing understanding of knowledge
– Encourage learning and reflection
• What the students do under this theory (with and without technology)
– Connect old knowledge with new knowledge
– Create own questions
– Solve problems through research and reflection

6. What you think about the theory for your own
teaching
• I think that this theory would be perfect for my classroom.
• I am a hands-on learner and strongly believe in active learning
• Learning would be student lead
• The teacher would only be there to guide students and help them think critically about problems
• Technology would be readily available to use
• Could be hard if you have learners that are at different levels

7. Works Cited
Atherton J S (2011) Learning and Teaching; Piaget's developmental theory [On-line: UK] retrieved 12 April
2012 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm
"Constructivism." Learning Theories. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. <http://www.learning
theories.com/constructivism.html>.
Field, Richard. John Dewey. Digital image. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 25 Apr. 2005. Web. 12 Apr.
2012. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/>.
Jerome Bruner. Digital image. About the Department. Harvard University. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3007&pageid=icb.page19708&pageConten
Id=icb.pagecontent44003&view=view.do&viewParam_name=bruner.html>.
Lev Vygotsky. Digital image. Theories of Learning Social Constructivism. University of California Berkeley,
2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. <http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/theories/social.html>.
Smith, Leslie. Jean Piaget. Digital image. Jean Piaget Society. Nov. 2000. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.piaget.org/index.html>.