Constructivist Learning Theory

The Museum and the Needs of People CECA (International Committee of Museum Educators) Conference Jerusalem Israel, 15-22 October 1991 Prof. George E. Hein Lesley College. Massachusetts USA Introduction The latest catchword in educational circles is "constructivism, " applied both to learning theory and to epistemology---both to how people learn, and to the nature of knowledge.1,2 We don't need to succumb to each new fad, but we do need to think about our work in relation to theories of learning and knowledge. So we need to ask: what is constructivism, what does it have to tell us that is new and relevant, and how do we apply it to our work? Constructivism What is meant by constructivism? 1) we have to focus on the learner in thinking about learning (not on the subject/lesson to be taught): 2) There is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to experience (constructed) by the learner, or community of learners. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Constructivist Learning Design Paper Teachers and teacher educators make different meanings of constructivist learning theory. At a recent retreat with facilitators of learning communities for teachers who were studying in a Masters of Education program, we were talking about our common reading of The Case for Constructivist Classrooms (Brooks & Brooks, 1993). We asked the ten facilitators to answer this question, "What is constructivism?" The results were interesting because all of their definitions were quite different and reflected their own understanding of the term and the text. We are proposing a new approach for planning using a "Constructivist Learning Design" that honors the common assumptions of constructivism and focuses on the development of situations as a way of thinking about the constructive activities of the learner rather than the demonstrative behavior of the teacher. This brief overview above indicates how each of these six elements integrate and work as a whole, but all need further explanation: 1. 2.

Media multitaskers pay mental price, Stanford study shows Attention, multitaskers (if you can pay attention, that is): Your brain may be in trouble. People who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time, a group of Stanford researchers has found. High-tech jugglers are everywhere – keeping up several e-mail and instant message conversations at once, text messaging while watching television and jumping from one website to another while plowing through homework assignments. But after putting about 100 students through a series of three tests, the researchers realized those heavy media multitaskers are paying a big mental price. "They're suckers for irrelevancy," said communication Professor Clifford Nass, one of the researchers whose findings are published in the Aug. 24 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The second test proved that theory wrong.

Constructivist Learning Constructivist Learning by Dimitrios Thanasoulas, Greece Only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem at hand, seeking and finding his own solution (not in isolation but in correspondence with the teacher and other pupils) does one learn. ~ John Dewey, How We Think, 1910 ~ As a philosophy of learning, constructivism can be traced to the eighteenth century and the work of the philosopher Giambattista Vico, who maintained that humans can understand only what they have themselves constructed. Within the constructivist paradigm, the accent is on the learner rather than the teacher. If a student is able to perform in a problem solving situation, a meaningful learning should then occur because he has constructed an interpretation of how things work using preexisting structures. personal involvement; learner-initiation; evaluation by learner; and (see

Information Literacy in the Disciplines: Art | Instruction Section Website The ACRL IS Information Literacy in the Disciplines Committee has gathered links and citations to information literacy standards and curricula developed by accrediting agencies, professional associations, and institutions of higher education in Art. 1. Accrediting Agencies & Professional Associations Art Libraries Society of North America Brown, Jeanne M., Paul Glassman, and Janine J. Brown, Jeanne, Jane Carlin, Thomas Caswell, Edith Crowe, Maya Gervits, Susan Lewis, Alan Michelson, Barbara Opar, and Jennifer Parker. 2007. “ Information Competencies for Students in Design Disciplines.” Ball, Heather, Bella Karr Gerlich, Tule Gianni, Paul Glassman, B.J. National Association of Schools of Art & Design (NASAD) National Association of School of Arts and Design Handbook 2015-2016. 2. Atkins, Priscilla. Beaudoin, Joan. Bennett, Hannah. Brown, Jeanne M. 2003. Brown, Jeanne M. Brown, Jeanne M. Dirst, Tara L.

Constructivist Education Resources | ACRL Visual Literacy Standards The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative recently released “7 Things You Should Know About Visual Literacy.” As usual, the brief is a jargon-free overview of the topic as it relates to teaching and learning. It’s worth reading, and provides fodder for conversations with colleagues and faculty. What is it? Amanda H. VLTF members recently contributed to ACRL’s Keeping Up With… series with a brief on Visual Literacy. On October 3, 2013, Nicole E. The presentation shares techniques for using images in libraries, with a focus on pedagogical considerations. A screencast of the full webinar is available here. Here is a new visualization of concepts in the ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Visual Literacy Array based on ACRL’s Visual Literacy Standards by D. Copyright 2013 The Johns Hopkins University Press. A new article on the Visual Literacy Standards is now available in the January 2013 issue of portal: Libraries and the Academy. The Visual Literacy Standards include:

Featured Teaching Channel Videos Part of a new editorial partnership, this page features a weekly selection from the Teaching Channel, a nonprofit organization that provides high-quality videos on inspiring and effective teaching practices. Watch and share with colleagues. Featured Video Teaching Practice Respecting the Garden (2 min) Pre-K / Science / Norms Lesson Idea Hypothesizing About Bugs (5 min) Pre-K / Science / Observation Making Playdough: Mix, Measure, Describe (5 min) Pre-K / Math / Measurement <div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div> Preschool teacher Brian Silveira shows how he uses open-ended questions during a gardening lesson to give his students chances to observe, discuss, and make predictions about plants, fruits, and bugs. (4:46) More Teaching Channel Videos Peer-to-Peer Tutoring High school math teacher Rosmery Milczewski uses peer-to-peer tutoring so students understand the responsibility of helping each other learn. Tch Special Milton Chen on Deeper Learning for ELLs (4 min) Hint Cards (2 min)

Inspiring Kids Tell TED Their Awesome Ideas About the Future of Learning | Education on GOOD Apologies to all the astrologers, clairvoyants, and Nate Silvers out there—none of us knows what the future actually holds. Ask someone in 1913 if they could've predicted Madonna or the internet and you'll get an idea how clueless we are about what life in 2083 or 2093 will be like. But fresh off awarding Sugata Mitra the 2013 TED Prize for his "Hole in the Wall" learning project, the TED blog invited four inspiring tweens and teens—15-year-old child prodigy and writer Adora Svitak; 10-year-old SoulPancake sensation, Kid President; 16-year-old teen advisor to Girl Up and to the United Nations, Ying Ying Shang; and Thomas Suarez, the 13-year-old California-based technophile and iPhone app developer—to answer one question: "What do you think is the future of learning?" Their answers prove that when it comes to dreaming about the future of learning, no one does that better than children. Svitak, like many of her peers, is clamoring for students to be able to drive their learning.

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