The underpinning learning theory evident throughout all three lessons is social

constructivism. This is apparent as each lesson focus’ on the ‘leaner as an individual’

(Beauchamp, 2016) with the involvement of a teacher as a role model. The lesson focus’ on
the students’ ability to use the ICT as learning tools to build off their prior knowledge and
gain an understanding of new concepts. In this case the students are researching the topic
of bees and the important role they carry out for the environment, as well as learning the
life cycle and habitat. The lesson enables students to take control of their own learning, to
create their own models, problem solve, draw conclusions and relate this to the context of
the environment. These are the underlying principles that best explain social constructivism
(Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, 2018). They do this by choosing how to
represent the information in ways such as a brainstorm, collage, illustration, still image and
collectively as a poster about the importance of a bee, what they depend on to survive and
their life cycle. From the beginning of the lesson the teacher follows the concept of
scaffolding which originated from Vygotsky’s idea of ‘Zone of Proximal Development’. In the
lesson, the teacher implements scaffolding to inform the students what they are going to
do, what they are going to learn and how they will represent their information with the
variety of resources provided. Throughout the lesson, social constructivism is present as the
students are continuing to learn through their environment and with the people around
them. By the teacher providing QR codes they are pointing them in the right track towards
active learning. Therefore, social constructivism is an important theory in the classroom
because it allows for students to becomes independent learners and strive for their
personal best.

Beauchamp, G. (2016). Computing and ICT in the primary school: From pedagogy to

practice (Second; Second; 2 ed.). London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

doi:10.4324/9781315628042

Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. (n.d.) What teachers should know about

social constructivism. Retrieved

from http://kb.edu.hku.hk/theory_social_constructivism.html