Individual constructivism
(Piaget)
- learning occurs by integrating new information or experiences we encounter with prior knowledge and understandings
- now looking at what it means to think
What is constructivism
- individuals construct what they learn and understand
- contribution of learners to their own learning
- importance of social interaction
general beliefs about knowledge
- formed within- not imposed from outside
- subjective and personal
- situated in context
How people learn?
- all students have preconceived notions
- students must actively form new knowledge
- learning is context sensitive
- students must be allowed to reflect
- in-depth coverage of fewer topics is the key to understanding
assumptions of cognitive theorists
- some learning processes are unique to humans
- learning involves the formation of mental representations or associations which may not be seen in behavior
- knowledge is organized
- people are actively involved in their learning
Traditional classroom
- built for listening and structured around one person
- emphasis on basic skills
- textbooks, workbooks, lecture
- assessment through testing
- students often work alone
the constructivist classroom
- a classroom that uses these ideas of constructivism to engage and construct their own knowledge and understanding on the topic
- reflecting on the topic afterward
- realize that there are multiple ways to learn
- focus on big concepts
- teachers interact with students
- assessment is authentic and interwoven with teaching
- students often work in groups
Why reinvent the wheel and look at constructivism?
- students do not reinvent it but rather understand how it turns and functions
- triggers students’ innate curiosity
- they learn by: applying their existing knowledge and real-word experience
- testing their theories
other names for individual constructivism
- psychological constructivism
- cognitive constructivism
person with individual constructivism
Jean Piaget
- utilized the clinical method (very psychology based)
- brought kids into lab to observe
- he observed his own kids
Piaget’s proposal
- a universal, qualitatively distinct stages
- applies to all children did not look at cultural differences
- worked with younger kids
- physical interactions with objects provide impetus for development
- had to do with neurological changes that allowed for certain tasks
Key ideas of Piaget’s theory
- children are ACTIVE and MOTIVATED learners, they want to figure out the world
- children ORGANIZE what they learn from their experiences
- learning and cognitive development depend on INTERACTING with the physical environment and other people
- Children learn and develop via EQUILIBRIUM (encountering new things in world and finding ways to account for it)
- adapting to new encounter
- cognitive conflict: development happens when reality is disturbed
Key ideas of Piaget’s theory: Schemes
children create organizational models to organize and make sense of their learning
-groups of similar actions or thoughts that are used repeatedly in response to the environment
Mechanisms of Adaptation (how equilibrium happens)
- assimilation: transforming new info to fit with your existing way of thinking
- accommodation: adapting your way of thinking for information that doesn’t fit with your way (modify or form new scheme)
aSSimilation=same scheme
aCCommodation= change/create scheme
equilibration
integrating particular pieces of knowledge of the world into a unified whole
example of assimilation
a 2nd grader developed a scheme for 2+3 apples=5 apples may apply the scheme to 2+3 dollars=5 dollars
example of accomodation
existing schema: all four legged animals are dogs
- friend points our cat and it has 4 legs
- realizes that all 4 legged animals are not dogs
Piaget’s stage theory
4 stages
- sensorimotor
- pre-operational
- concrete operational
- formal operational
- sensorimotor stage
birth - age 2
- spontaneous exploring play
- reality is based on physical interactions with world
- schemes are perception and behavior based
*****develop object permanence and early symbolic thought
object permanence
-idea that once the object disappears it goes away and doesn’t exist
- pre-operational stage
- defined by capacity for symbolic thought, especially development of language
- one-dimensional thinking, focus on perceptually striking features of objects
- understand timelines
**Demonstrating irreversibility: once things done cannot be changed or undone
conservation
the experiment of juice and they start out with the same glasses and same amount of juice then poured one into a skinnier glass and asked which one has more
-younger do not have this
awareness of space and size
- concrete operational stage
age 6/7-11/12
- can understand conservation problems
- thinking now involves logical operations (understanding logic)
- can take others points of view and take other perspectives into account (egocentrism) (putting yourself in others shoes)
- thinking no longer dominated by sensory info but still struggle with abstract concepts and hypotheticals
- formal operations stage
11/12 and older
- individuals can now reason in terms of theories, abstractions, and hypotheticals
- can engage in scientific and logical reasoning
- proportional reasoning
- able to be metacognitive (thinking about their own thinking processes)
- this is the top level of cognition for Piaget
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Behaviorism18
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Learning18
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Informal Learning13
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Behaviorism: Operant conditioning23
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Social Cognitive Theory28
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Individual Constructivism26
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Conceptual Change and Social Constructivism22
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E2- Metacognition and Self-Regualtion16
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E2- Information Processing Theory24
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E2 Study Strategies11
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E2- Information Processing Theory Production Rules12
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E2-Situated Cognition20
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E-2 Distributed Cognition17
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E2- Embodied Cognition12
