CONSTRUCTIVISM

a theory of learning based on the idea that knowledge is constructed by the knower based on mental activity
2 Main Aspects of Constructivism
First, learning is a process of knowledge construction instead of absorption
Second, knowledge is highly related to the environment in which the learner experiences and constructs the knowledge
3 Types of Constructivism
1.
Exogenous Constructivism
There is an external reality that is reconstructed as knowledge is formed
The information processing conceptualizations of cognitive psychology emphasize the representation view of constructivism,
calling attention to how we construct and elaborate schemata and networks of information based on the external realities of
the environments we experience.
2.

Endogenous Constructivism or Cognitive Constructivism

Focuses on internal, individual construction of knowledge
Derived from Piagetian theory, emphasizes individual knowledge construction stimulated by internal cognitive conflict as
learners strive to resolve mental disequilibrium.

3.

Dialectical Constructivism or Social Constructivism

Views the origin of knowledge construction as being the social intersection of people, interactions that involve sharing,
comparing and debating among learners and mentors.
Direct reflection of Vygotskys sociocultural theory of learning, which accentuates the supportive guidance of mentors as they
enable the apprentice learner to achieve successively more complex skill, understanding, and ultimately independent
competence.

PRINICPLES OF CONSTRUCTIVISM
1. The people are learners, always actively searching for and constructing new meanings. Thus, they are always learning.
2. The process of learning is self-regulating and self-preserving.
3. Knowledge consists of past constructions.
4. The best predictor of what and how someone will learn is what they already know.
5. Learning often proceeds from whole to part to whole.
6. Errors promote growth and are critical to learning.
7. Meaningful learning occurs through reflection and resolution of cognitive conflict and thus serves to negate earlier,
incomplete levels of understanding.
8. People learn best from experiences about which they are passionately interested and involved.
9. People learn best from people they trust.
10. The purpose of education is long-term knowledge that can be used flexibly and independently.
11. Teaching is a process of providing learners with experiences, activities, and prompts that enables them to make meaning
through self-regulation.
12. Instructional goals changed momentarily as learners gain knowledge and acquire new skills.
Faces of Constructivism
1. Trivial or personal constructivism
The simplest idea in constructivism
In this principle, Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the environment.
2. Radical constructivism
Adds a second principle to trivial constructivism
Coming to know is a process of dynamic adaptation towards viable interpretation of experience. The knower does
not necessarily construct knowledge of a real world.
3. Social or socio-constructivism
The social world of a learner includes the people that directly affect that person, including teachers, friends,
students, administrators, and participants in all forms of activity.
4. Cultural constructivism
beyond the immediate social environment of a learning situation are the wider context of cultural influences,
including custom, religion, biology, tools and language.
5. Critical constructivism
Looks at constructivism within a social and cultural environment, but adds a critical dimension aimed at reforming
these environments in order to improve the success of constructivism applied as a referent.
6. Constructionism
Asserts that constructivism occurs especially well when the learner is engaged in constructing something for others
to see.

The Teachers Role

Teachers are to provide teaching techniques that support students construction of their understanding.
Teachers need to make the concepts and phenomena interesting and important to the students.
Teachers should offer a variety of methods for exploration and provide various approaches.
The learners are responsible for defending, proving, justifying, and communicating their ideas to the classroom.
GESTALT ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE
Gestalt is a German word that means the whole or the entire form
(unified form)
The Gestalt effect refers to the form-forming capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of
figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves.
Although Max Wertheimer is credited as the founder of the movement, the concept of Gestalt was first introduced in
contemporary philosophy and psychology by Christian von Ehrenfels.
TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS
Gestalt theory is a good theory that could facilitate the learning and teaching processes and renew both educational
relationship and didactics.
It is possible to proceed toward a theoretical revision of the gestalt perspective in order to create the basis of a coherent
Gestalt Psycho pedagogy by integrating the contributions of Gestalt psychology with the contributions of Gestalt
therapy.
It neglects the theme of learning contents, because it distorts the class group transforming it into a psychotherapeutic
group, because it underestimates performance in learning contents and it overestimates the relationship and
communication.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO TEACHING
Theory of the organism-environment field, learning as a creative adaptation, learning and teaching as experiences of contact,
group dynamics according to the field theory of Kurt Lewin.
Laws of gestaltic organization (figure-background effect, Von Restorff effect memory as rearrangement (G. Katona)
Gestalt Psycho pedagogy
Gestalt theory is focused on the experience of contact that occurs in the here and now.
It takes interest in the complexity of experience, without neglecting anything, but accepting and amplifying all that
emerges.
In the gestalt perspective, the organismic needs of man, the authentic need of auto realization, are respected.
It appreciates the affections and meaning that we attribute to what we learn.
Autonomy and freedom of the student is stimulated by the teacher.
The contact experience between teachers and students is given value: an authentic meeting based on sharing ideas and
affections
Criticism
In some scholarly communities (for example, cognitive psychology and computational neuroscience), Gestalt theories of
perception are criticized for being descriptive rather than explanatory in nature.
In other fields, such as perceptual psychology and visual display design, Gestalt principles continue to be used and
discussed today as a predictive model of human behavior.
A Constructivistic Approach to Learning
The constructive approach to learning is based on cognitive learning theory, represented as an S-O-R paradigm. The organism
is treated as an active processor of information.
The constructive approach to learning is based on two different approaches to the study of how we come to know.
1. Information processing
2. Developmental
The most important aspect according to cognitive psychology is cognition, defined as
the act or process of knowing in the broadest sense; specifically, an intellectual process by which knowledge is gained from
perception or ideas" (Webster's Dictionary).
Information Processing
The information processing approach focuses on the study of the structure and function of mental processing within
specific contexts, environments, or ecologies.
The most often discussed information processing theory is the stage approach.

The Stage Theory

The focus of the stage theory is on how information is stored in memory.
The model is based on the work of Atkinson and Shriffin (1968) and proposes that information is processed and stored in
three stages:
1. Sensory memory
2. Short-term memory
3. Long-term memory
Sensory register: the mental processing unit that receives information from the environment and stores it fleetingly.
Short-term memory: the mental processing unit in which information may be stored temporarily; the work space of the mind, where a
decision must be made to discard information or to transfer it to permanent storage, in long-term memory.
Long-term memory: the encyclopedic mental processing unit in which information may be stored permanently and from which it may
be later retrieved.
Sensory memory (STSS). Sensory memory is affiliated with the transduction of energy (change from one energy from to
another). The environment makes available a variety of sources of information (light, sound, smell, heat, cold, etc.), but the
brain only understands electrical energy. This memory is very short (less than 1/2 second for vision; about 3 seconds for
hearing).
Short-term memory: the mental processing unit in which information may be stored temporarily; the work space of the
mind, where a decision must be made to discard information or to transfer it to permanent storage, in long-term memory.
Repetition or rote rehearsal is a technique we all use to try to "learn" something. However, in order to be effective this must
be done after forgetting begins. Researchers advise that the learner should not repeat immediately the content (or skill), but
wait a few minutes and then repeat.
For the most part, simply memorizing something does not lead to learning (i.e., relatively permanent change). We all have
anecdotal evidence that we can remember something we memorized (a poem for example), but just think about all the
material we tried to learn this way and the little we are able to remember after six months or a year.
In summary, constructing long-term memory involves three separate processes :
Attention (process to STM)
Repetition (maintain in STM)
Elaboration (process to LTM)
There are several examples of elaboration that are commonly used in the teaching/learning process:
imaging -- creating a mental picture;
method of loci (locations)--ideas or things to be remembered are connected to objects located in a familiar location;
pegword method (number, rhyming schemes)--ideas or things to be remembered are connected to specific words (e.g., onebun, two-shoe, three-tree, etc.)
Rhyming (songs, phrases)--information to be remembered is arranged in a rhyme (e.g., 30 days hath September, April, June,
and November, etc.)
Initial letter--the first letter of each word in a list is used to make a sentence (the sillier, the better).
Implications for planning and teaching
The student is pursuing a problem or activity by applying approaches he or she already knows and integrating those
approaches with alternatives presented by other team members, research sources, or current experience.
Through trial and error, the student then balances pre-existing views and approaches with new experiences to construct a new
level of understanding.
Learning is then assessed through performance-based projects rather than through traditional paper and pencil testing.
The teacher is a facilitator or coach in the constructivist learning approach. The teacher guides the student, stimulating and
provoking the student's critical thinking, analysis and synthesis throughout the learning process. The teacher is also a colearner.
Constructivist learning theory does not necessarily imply that one must follow a "constructivist" pedagogical strategy. In
other words, most researches firmly believe that knowledge is constructed, but some (e.g. main stream instructional
designers) do not adopt an instructional design that is labelled "constructivist".