CONSTRUCTIVISM

Noor AlSuwaidi
H00370271
 DEFINITION
• Mathematics: a view which admits as valid only constructive proofs and
entities demonstrable by them, implying that the latter have no
independent existence.
• Art: a style or movement in which assorted mechanical objects are
combined into abstract mobile structural forms. The movement
originated in Russia in the 1920s and has influenced many aspects of
modern architecture and design.
 THE 1ST PERIOD
• It’s identified by Piaget, called the sensorimotor period (from birth to about age 2)
• It’s described in the first part of this chapter. It is the time when children begin to learn
about the world.
• Use all their sensory abilities—touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell, and muscular.
• They also use growing motor abilities to grasp, crawl, stand, and eventually walk.
• Children in this first period are explorers, and they need opportunities to use their
sensory and motor abilities to learn basic skills and concepts.
• Children have developed the concept of object permanence; that is, they realize that
objects exist even when they are out of sight. 
• They also develop the ability of object recognition, learning to identify objects by using
the information they have acquired about features such as color, shape, and size.
• As children near the end of the sensorimotor period, they reach a stage where they can
engage in representational thought; that is, instead of acting impetuously, they can
think through a solution before attacking a problem. -They enter into a time of rapid
language development.
 THE 2ND PERIOD
• It’s called the preoperational period, extends through approximately ages 2 to 7.
• Children begin to develop concepts that are more like those of adults.
• During the early part of the preoperational period, language continues to undergo rapid
growth, and speech is used increasingly to express concept knowledge.
• Children begin to use concept terms such as size, weight, shape, time, length, and so on.
• This ability to use language is one of the symbolic behaviors that emerges during this
period.
• Children also use symbolic behavior in their representational play, children develop an
understanding of the symbolic functions that underlie later understanding of abstract
symbols such as numerals, letters, and written words.
• An important characteristic of preoperational children is centration.
• During the preoperational period, children work with the precursors of conservation such
as counting, one-to-one correspondence, shape, space, and comparing.
• They also work on seriation, classification or sorting.
 THE 3RD PERIOD
• It’s called concrete operations (approximately ages 7 to 11), children are
becoming conservers.
• They are becoming more and more skilled at retaining the original picture in mind
and making a mental reversal when appearances are changed.
• The time between ages 5 and 7 is one of transition to concrete operations.
• A child’s thought processes are changing at his or her own rate.
• During this time of transition, a normal expectation is that some children are
already conservers and others are not.
• This is a critical consideration for kindergarten and primary teachers because the
ability to conserve number (the coins problem) is a good indication that children
are ready to deal with abstract symbolic activities.
• They will be able to mentally manipulate groups that are presented by number
symbols with a real understanding of what the mathematical operations mean.
 THE 4TH PERIOD
• It’s called formal operations (approximately ages 11 through adulthood).
• Children can learn to use the scientific method independently; that is, they
learn to solve problems in a logical and systematic manner. 
• They begin to understand abstract concepts and to attack abstract problems.
• They can imagine solutions before trying them out.
• A person at the formal operations level would plan out how to systematically
test to find the solution
• A person still at the concrete operational level might start to combine the
liquids without considering a logical approach to the problem, -this period
may be reached as early as age 11; however, it may not be reached at all by
many adults without problem-solving training or brain-twister activities.