Constructivist Teaching Essay

396 Words2 Pages
Constructivist Teaching Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on observation and scientific study -- about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know. I do consider myself as a constructivist teacher. Constructivist teaching is when we as teachers try to create a class in which the students and teachers are equal. This is very different from how a lot of classes are run today. Usually the teacher runs the class and students are to follow what the teacher is saying. However in a constructivist class the teacher and the students both come up with topics and usually the teacher teach the students the topics that the student finds interesting. Also constructive teaching is that the learners are actively involved. That is where I create activities in which students are doing some hands on work. Instead of just doing book work or reading how something works a student gets to actually see how something works or even get a chance to build something from what they know. I will act more of a guide to learning, which means when students try and work on their projects and come up with ways on how to solve the problem. If students are having trouble or do not know how to solve the problem then they can come to me and I will try to help them out. Some examples of constructivist activities would be for students to work in groups and each person in the group has a chance to interact with each other and come up with ideas to solving the
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