.

Constructivist Approaches to Student Motivation

MaryAnn Butcher

November 2010

University College of The Cayman Islands

Post Graduate Diploma in Education

EDU 520

Dr L. Malcolm
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INTRODUCTION

“Given your understanding of the constructivist approach to learning, outline 3-4 of the

approaches and discuss how they can either be used to meet individual needs of students or

motivate students to learn”

In this paper I will attempt to define the Constructivist Learning Theory and describe the

key concepts, ideas and principles which are used in approaches based on that theory. After

outlining 3 of those approaches with reference to specific classroom application, I will then draw

links between them and the already established motivational strategies.

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Constructivist Learning Theory

Slavin (2009) describes the constructivist theory of learning as the idea that “learners

must individually discover and transform complex information, checking new information

against old rules and revisiting rules when they no longer work.” This emphasis on the students

as active learners indicates a lean towards the student-centered classroom environment where

students work towards discovering their own meanings rather than one in which the teacher is

constantly lecturing and controlling all classroom activities. The role of the teacher here is to

focus on making connections between facts and fostering new understanding in students. They

tailor their teaching strategies to student responses and encourage students to analyze, interpret,

and predict information. They also rely heavily on open-ended questions and promote extensive

dialogue among students. ("Constructivism,")

A constructivist teacher at the beginning of a science lesson on the topic of Magnetism

may start by having students discuss what they think the term means, carry out their own

experiments to discover which types of materials are magnetic and make their own conclusions

as to the reasons why. Contrast this with a more ‘traditional’ approach where the teacher may

only have the students take notes on the topic and perhaps allow them only to watch a

demonstration of the experiments. The difference between the two approaches is often quite

evident in the level of student participation during the lesson. The tradition teacher may be

happiest when students sit quietly and listen attentively but the constructivist classroom is often

bustling with student activities and discussions.

Historically, Constructivist theory draws heavily on the work of Piaget and Vygotsky,

both of whom emphasized that cognitive change takes place only when previous conceptions go

through a process of disequilibration in light of new information which would lead to adaptation
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of some sort. This means that a student learns new skills or topics by relating them to the

knowledge and skills they might have mastered already. If the old cannot be directly applied to

the new, he then learns to adapt these old skills or develop new ones.

Vygotsky also emphasized the social nature of learning, and both suggested the use of

mixed-ability learning groups to promote conceptual change. Four key principles derived from

Vygotsky's ideas have played an important role: the Zone of Proximal Development, Social

Learning, Cognitive Apprenticeship, and Mediated Learning.

Zone of Proximal Development

The concept known as the zone of proximal development refers to the gap between what

a student has already mastered (the actual level of development) and what he or she can achieve

when provided with educational support (potential development). Tasks within the zone of

proximal development are ones that the student cannot yet do alone but could do with the

assistance of adults or more competent peers. This is the point of readiness for further learning.

Once the student has completed a task with assistance (perhaps completing it more than once

with diminishing levels of support) he is then likely to be ready to complete the task on his own.

This can be well illustrated by the process a child usually goes through when learning to

ride a bicycle for the first time. This is usually done with the support of a parent or older child

who already knows how to ride and at a time when the child has already mastered the operation

of the bicycle with training wheels. The zone of proximal development in this case is what lies

between the child being able to ride with training wheels and without the training wheels. Once

the training wheels are removed the child must be coached and assisted in order to now learn to

balance while pedaling and steering as he would have before. The parent usually assists at first
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by holding the bicycle up with both hands and then with one, verbally reminding the child to “sit

up straight” or “hold the handles steadily”. Eventually the adult is able to fully remove his

support by letting go. The child is then able to practice on their own until they have fully

mastered the ability to ride a bicycle.

The social interaction is implicit in Vygotsky’s theory. The parent in this case must be

well aware of the not only child’s ability level, but also the way in which they think. The parent

or teacher who is sensitively attuned to the child's ever-shifting abilities and motivation would

continually urge that child on to new levels of competence. The child in turn asks questions and

shows signs of progress that guide and inspire the parent or teacher.

Social Learning, Cognitive Apprenticeship and Mediated Learning

As previously stated, the social aspect of learning is central to Vygotsky’s theory.

Vygotsky proposed that children learn through joint interactions with adults and more capable

peers. When the thought processes of successful problem solvers are verbalized during

cooperative projects, other students are able to learn these processes and apply them to their own

approach. (Slavin, 2009)

Similarly, cognitive apprenticeship is the process by which a student would gradually

acquires expertise through interaction with an expert, such as the teacher or more advanced peer.

(Slavin, 2009) Much like traditional forms of apprenticeship where a person learns complex

skills such as carpentry or auto-repair, the cognitive apprenticeship is facilitated by a person who

is fully competent and involves such processes as modeling and coaching.

A student would usually start out by observing his teacher in action, identifying the

specific behaviors needed to accomplish the task. At the next stage the student, with the support
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of the teacher, tries to imitate the behaviors he has observed. The teacher provides coaching in

the form of corrective feedback, hints and reminders or even once again modeling the task for

the student. As with the bicycle riding scenario from before, the student is never asked to do

anything beyond what he can accomplish with the teacher’s help and eventually, as the student

becomes more proficient, the teacher gradually removes their support.

Another related concept is Mediated Learning (also known as Assisted Learning).

Vygotsky conceptualized this constructivist concept. This is the idea in which the teacher guides

instruction by means of scaffolding to help students to master and internalize the skills that

permit higher cognitive functioning. (Slavin, 2009) According to Vygotsky, higher cognitive

functions, such as the ability to focus attention or memory, or to think in terms of symbols is

unique to humans and is passed down by teaching. Furthermore, the development of these

functions is tied to social context and culture. Once these functions are acquired, the student will

have the tools necessary for self-guided learning.

Along with these key principles from Vygotsky, constructivist approaches to teaching

include such concepts as: top-down processing, cooperative learning, discovery learning, self-

regulated learning, scaffolding and APA's Learner-Centered Psychological Principles.

Scaffolding

This key idea, taken from Vygotsky’s Social Learning theory, suggest that support for

learning and problem solving be provided to the student in the initial stages in the form of clues,

reminders, simplifying or giving examples. Soon thereafter that support is to be diminished so

that the student’s responsibility and independence can be increased progressively. Vygotsky

defined scaffolding instruction as the “role of teachers and others in supporting the learner’s
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development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level” (Raymond, 2000,

p. 176).

Scaffolding is an essential component in many, if not all of the constructivist approaches

and ideas such as Mediated Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship and others to follow. As a

teaching strategy on its own, scaffolding provides individualized support based on the student’s

zone of proximal development. The teacher begins to plan a lesson by taking into account the

actual level of development for each of her students and then structures activities which are

within their potential level of development.

For example, in a music lesson where a student is learning to play a new piano piece, the

teacher might tackle the student’s problem with left-hand to right-hand co-ordination as follows.

The student is allowed to first master the parts separately (one hand at a time) and then the

teacher plays the accompanying part while the student is practicing the other. At times she may

place her hand over his to help guide him in the correct finger-movements or rhythms. They may

alternate between the parts at times. This allows the student to hear how the other part fits with

what they are playing. Eventually, when he is confident on the separate parts, the student begins

to attempt playing them together on his own. At this point, he has fully mastered (engaging

tactile memory) the movement in each hand and is aurally aware of how they should sound

together. The teacher can remove all the supports which were in place at the beginning of the

lesson.

One of the primary benefits of scaffolding instruction is that it engages the learner. The

learner does not passively listen to information presented. Instead, through the teacher’s

prompting, the learner builds on prior knowledge and forms new knowledge. In working with

students who have low self-esteem and learning disabilities, it provides an opportunity to give
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positive feedback to the students by saying things like “…look what you have just figured out!”

This gives them more of a can do versus a “this is too hard” attitude. This leads into another

advantage of scaffolding in that if done properly, scaffolding instruction motivates the student so

that they want to learn more.

Another benefit of this type of instruction is that it can minimize the level of frustration

of the learner. For the piano student mentioned above a lesson which was not scaffold in such a

way would have been quite frustrating because attempting to learn the piece of music would

become a slow and arduous task because of the obstacle of having to think about the movements

of each hand. They would have to break the piece down bar by bar and perhaps never really gain

an appreciation of the musicality of the piece.

Discovery Learning

One of the most important components of constructivist approaches is Discovery

Learning. In discovery learning, the student draws on his or her own past experience and existing

knowledge to discover facts and relationships and new truths to be learned. Students interact

with the world by exploring and manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and

controversies, or performing experiments. As a result, students may be more likely to remember

concepts and knowledge discovered on their own.

Discovery learning fits easily within the teaching of science but is applicable to a wide

variety of subject areas. In any subject area, students engaged in discovery learning are given

activities where they learn to recognize a problem, characterize what a solution would look like,

search for relevant information, develop a solution strategy, and execute the chosen strategy and

evaluate its effectiveness. In a science lesson students might be asked to figure out how to make
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the highest flying kite. They might start by discussing what the most suitable materials,

dimensions or environmental conditions. Even the student who has never flown a kite might be

able to suggest light materials or the windiest spot on the island. The students might then

carryout research using the internet or other sources to find a suitable design or confer with a

Design and Technology teacher about the best techniques for handling and putting together their

materials. They would then test their designs by attempting to fly them, all the while making

adjustment such as the length of the tail or the type of string as they see fit. In the end they would

present their evaluations and conclusions on what works best or what doesn’t work.

Discovery learning has several advantages: it actively engages students in the learning

process, it motivates students to participate, it encourages autonomy and independence, promotes

the development of creativity and problem-solving skills and provides a individualized learning

experience. However, discovery learning also means the risk of time wasted if errors are made

by the student and also possibility of overwhelming or demotivating student who might need

more structure.

Self-Regulated Learning

Another one of the most important components of the constructivist approaches is Self-

Regulated Learning. This is learning that is guided by metacognition (thinking about one's

thinking), strategic action (planning, monitoring, and evaluating personal progress against a

standard), and motivation to learn (Wikipedia, 2010). Self-regulated learners are those who are

cognizant of their academic strengths and weaknesses, have knowledge of effective learning

strategies and know how and when to use them. (Slavin, 2009) These learners hold incremental

beliefs about intelligence (as opposed to fixed views of intelligence) and attribute their successes
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or failures to factors (e.g., effort expended on a task, effective use of strategies) within their

control. Self-regulated learners are not concerned with performance goals

It is often assumed that high-ability students are automatically self-regulated learners.

This is not so. Gifted and talented students may have done very well in school without using

good self-regulation strategies because of a combination of their high abilities and/or an

unchallenging curriculum. These self-regulation skills can be taught, learned, and controlled.

Students who are self-regulated learners believe that opportunities to take on

challenging tasks, practice their learning, develop a deep understanding of subject matter, and

exert effort will give rise to academic success. In part, these characteristics may help to explain

why self-regulated learners usually exhibit a high sense of self-efficacy. In the educational

psychology literature, researchers have linked these characteristics to success in and beyond

school (Wikipedia, 2010).

Top-Down Processing

Constructivist approaches use top-down processing in which students begin with

sophisticated problems and ascertain the basic knowledge and skills needed to solve those

problems. Related instructional methods include: Discovery and Assisted learning. These

instructional techniques stimulate students’ curiosity and motivation. Also, they facilitate the

development of independent problem-solving and critical-thinking skills because students must

analyze and manipulate information.

In the classroom setting, the teacher would begin with a problem, sometimes presented

by the students themselves. The students work to discover how to solve the problem. If actively

involved in discovery, students will develop problem-solving skills and engage in socio-cultural
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learning experiences. This was the point Vygotsky called cognitive scaffolding, which reflected

the cultural process of assistance through cooperation and collaboration.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning or Peer-Assisted learning is an instructional approach in which

students work in small groups to achieve team success while emphasizing the student’s

responsibility for their own learning and that of their team mates. This instructional technique

emphasizes group dynamics where thinking processes are shared, modeled and challenged until

all participants have gain better understanding. Many quite different approaches to cooperative

learning exist. Most involve students in four-member, mixed-ability groups, but some methods

use dyads and some use varying group sizes.

APA’s Learner Centered Psychological Principles

This set of 14 principles of learning and motivation, laid out by the APA’s Task Force on

Psychology in Education, paint a picture of the learner as actively seeking knowledge by:

reinterpreting information and experiences for themselves; being intrinsically self-motivated;

working with others to socially construct meaning; and being aware of and capable of effectively

applying their own learning strategies. Many, if not all, of the principles echo those found within

the constructivist approach. For the purpose of later discussions on motivation however, I’ll draw

attention to a few in particular.

Principle #7, in addressing the motivational and emotional influences on learning, states:

“What and how much is learned is influenced by the learner's motivation. Motivation to learn, in

turn, is influenced by the individual's emotional states, beliefs, interests, and goals, and habits of
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thinking.” One can infer from this that learner-centered lessons must be include or be in some

way geared towards the learner’s interests, points of view or mood. The task of accomplishing

this in every lesson seems daunting, but then one must think of the number of times teachers are

faced with the questions: “Why do we need to know this?”

Principle #8, in addressing intrinsic motivation to learn states: “The learner's creativity,

higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to motivation to learn. Intrinsic

motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevant to personal interests,

and providing for personal choice and control.” It may be hard to imagine, but it is easy to

demotivate a good student if the lessons are too simple. Even with continued success, students

may lose interest in tasks that they once loved to do. For many students it is the challenges that

are presented and conquered that drives them forward in their learning.

Principle #9, in addressing effects of motivation on effort states: “Acquisition of complex

knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided practice. Without learners'

motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely without coercion.”

Constructivist Approaches Outlined

For the purpose of clarifying my direction in the next part of this paper, I feel it necessary to

explain my understanding of what a constructivist approach is. Above, I have defined and

described the prevailing theory of constructivism and several of the concepts, ideas and

principles that characterize its application to the classroom environment. While some core

concepts such as Discovery learning and Self-regulated Learning may be utilized as full

approaches in some subjects such as science, it is not my intention to present then as such. Going

forward, I now hope to illustrate how the constructivist theory and combinations of the various
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concepts, ideas and principles are specifically and practically applied to curricular subject areas.

Constructivism in Reading: Reciprocal Teaching

According to Slavin (2009), this constructivist approach is designed primarily to help low

achievers in elementary and middle schools learn reading comprehension. Reciprocal teaching

can be used to teach students how to coordinate the use of four comprehension strategies:

predicting, clarifying, generating questions, and summarizing. (Pilonieta, P., & Medina, A. 2009)

While working in small groups, with the teacher as a facilitator, the students use these strategies

to engage in a discussion thereby jointly constructing and enhancing one another’s understanding

of the text. The teacher initially models the questions students might ask as they read and then

passes the role of group leader to individual students so that they can then generate questions for

each other.

It should be easy to note the several constructivist elements within this approach. The use

of small groups with active discussion resembles the cooperative and social learning concepts

described above. The teacher must employ the idea of scaffolding and even while encouraging

greater student responsibility, the teacher continues monitoring and scaffolding.

Questioning the Author

Another constructivist approach to reading described by Slavin (2009), is one called

Questioning the Author. In this method questioning can help students to see that texts are written

by real people for a range of different purposes, and that some are more successful than others in

achieving this purpose. As students read the text, the teacher stops them from time to time in

order to prompt questions about the author’s intent and meaning or the story’s development.
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Wilson (2003) also proposes the following exercise within this approach: “An interesting

exercise with advanced students is to compare two reports of the same news item from different

sources: how reliable are they? What sources have been used? What has been picked out as the

key point? What verbs have been used and to what effect? Which one concords most with their

own perceptions of the situation?” She notes that the benefits of this approach can be found in

the students being more motivated and developing their critical stance rather than simply

paraphrase the article.

Constructivism in Music

After reading the articles by real practicing teachers such as Wilson, Freer and Myers on

their own ideas for constructivist approaches, I began to examine my own classroom practices.

Could I also be a constructivist? I’ll admit that in the past, I only associated the term ‘discovery

learning’ with the science subject. I thought that my music curriculum had too many facts and

concepts to be learnt, memorized and practices in preparation for exams. Having studied the

theory and its accompanying ideas I’m now able to recognize some constructivist approaches in

my own schemes of work.

With the aid of ICT resources such as music notation software my students’ composition

classes have definitely become more student-centered as they can type in their ideas and have the

computer accurately play it back for them. Initially, I do provide them with support in the form

of an overview of the particular concepts and or listening and performance examples on the

genre that we are modeling. In creating their compositions they are expected to draw on their

own interpretation of those concepts. Throughout the process they frequently evaluate each

other’s work and discuss (and sometimes defend) the choices they’ve made.
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In the study of western music history and world music with younger students my

approach involves allowing them to make connections between the music they know and the new

music in as many ways as possible. This may mean aurally comparing the timbres of western

and world musical instruments or going further to invent their own new musical instruments and

performing their own compositions on them. I encourage open discussion on their perceptions of

the music they encounter and try wherever possible to help them draw connection between how

the music makes them feel and their knowledge of the core musical elements such as pitch,

dynamics and tempo.

Motivation and the Constructivist Approaches

Motivation can be defined as an internal state that activates, guides, and maintains

learning behavior. (Palmer, D. 2005) For the context of the classroom, further distinction

should be made between the intrinsic and extrinsic forms of motivation. Intrinsic motivation

refers to those tasks or topics (hobbies) which are inherently enjoyable and interesting to a

person. Extrinsic motivation refers to external extra or external factors which persons are taught

to value. (Rewards) In its simplest forms, the student’s motivation to learn can be treat as “the

student’s reason” to want to learn.

I believe that many if not all of the concepts, ideas and principles contained in the

constructivist approaches are intended to impact positively on student motivation. If a child is

interested in or curious about what is happening in the classroom then they are more likely

continue learning. Quite often in schools, extrinsic motivators such as grades or rewards are the

driving force behind students’ performance. The successful accomplishment learning goals

which is supported by key concepts such as scaffolding and discovery learning appeals to both
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types of motivated student.

Motivation can ebb or be completed removed if a student looses interest due to failure or

boredom. For this reason, it is the teacher job to closely monitor and maintain the students’

interest and efficacy but tailoring the levels of difficulty and the relevance to the topics to their

individual need. This is primarily seen in the practice of scaffolding and the teacher’s awareness

of the of the student’s Zone of Proximal Development.

Teachers should also be aware that the cooperative learning or peer-assisted group

dynamics achieves this while also shifting some of the burden from their own shoulders.
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Constructivism. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.funderstanding.com/content/constructivism

Freer, P. (2009). A Constructivist Approach with Choruses. Music Educators Journal, 95(4), 57.

Hand, B., & Treagust, D. (1994). Teachers' thoughts about changing to constructivist
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Myers, D. (2009). Constructivist Approaches in the Band Class. Music Educators Journal, 95(4),
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