Constructivist Strategies

Meeting Standards & Engaging Adolescent Minds

Chandra Foote, Catherine Battaglia, Paul Vermette

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317919728
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book demonstrates how student-centered learning activities can help your middle and high school students meet curriculum standards. Its vivid and authentic examples will appeal to you if you embrace active learning and want to apply constructivist methodologies in your classroom.

This book explains the links between constructivism and other innovative teaching practices such as:
- cooperative learning
- multiple intelligences
- portfolio assessment
- curriculum mapping
- culturally relevant teaching
- and many others

Applications of these practices in classrooms are demonstrated and displayed by:
- sample lesson and unit plans
- summary charts
- classroom management models
- examples of student assessments

1

EXPLORING CURRENT BELIEFS

As we embark on a new millennium, it is interesting to examine the innovative ideas about schooling policy and practice that were generated over the last century. One trend that continues to evolve is an approach to teaching that attempts to abandon the practice of “stamping in” learning in favor of engaging learners with content in meaningful ways. This new approach is based on a theory of learning called constructivism. Although this theory, with its roots stemming from educational giants like Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky, has a great following in the educational community; teachers have found it very difficult to translate some of the ideas into classroom practice, even if they seem to approve of them in theory. Fullan (1994) and others have indicated that instructional change takes time and teachers, like all learners, need time to fully comprehend information through meaningful interactions before they can count themselves as masters of a body of knowledge.

Fullan, M. (1994). Teacher leadership: A failure to conceptualize. In D. R. Walling (ed.). Teachers as leaders: Perspectives on the professional development of teachers. (pp. 241–253). Indiana: Phi Delta Kappan.

Before we begin to fully examine constructivist theory and practice, we would like you to complete an activity designed to help identify your initial beliefs about learning. In the margin, provide a brief answer to the following questions: How does one learn? What does learning look like? How does the mind work during learning? How is information stored in the mind? Your responses to these questions help to articulate your personal theory of learning and these beliefs drive your instructional practice.

How does one learn? What does learning look like? How does the mind work during learning? How is information stored in the mind?

Constructivism is a theory of learning and not, in itself, a theory of teaching. Throughout this text we present a number of instructional practices aligned with constructivism; but it is important to note that these practices are arranged/controlled by the teacher and school. Constructivism describes the processes undergone by the learner during the instruction. It is the role of the teacher to consider and select practices that are congruent with his or her beliefs about how students learn. As you explore the techniques described throughout the text, keep in mind how your beliefs about learning develop. Return to these questions frequently and consider how your responses change.

This text has been built to allow you, as the reader, to have many opportunities to analyze and critique instructional strategies and to make decisions about what practices you would prefer to implement in your classroom. We also hope that as you read the text you will experiment with some of the suggestions in your own teaching situation.

Now let’s examine your pedagogical preferences so that you might articulate your initial beliefs about teaching, just as you examined your initial beliefs about learning. This exercise will enable you to evaluate your own professional growth as you continue reading.

In each of the following scenarios, indicate in the margin which option reflects your teaching preference (you may also want to jot some notes as to why).

Use this space to indicate your preference and to discuss why.

1. At the end of math class, Tommy approaches the teacher and says, “I think that doing the homework is a waste of time. How about letting me write a paragraph showing what I know instead of doing the questions at the end of the chapter?”

a. The teacher agrees, saying, “Let’s see how you do but make sure you cover the three formulas we discussed this week.”

b. The teacher disagrees, saying, “I don’t know … the state test is geared toward those specific examples. Just do the regular assignment.”

2. The teacher has to choose between giving the students one of these two sets of study materials. The topic is The Great Depression, in a heterogeneously mixed 11th-grade classroom.

a. A newspaper front page from 1933, a journal entry from an unemployed worker in 1935, three pages from the Grapes of Wrath, an almanac of 1937 and three graphs showing stock prices in the ‘30s.

b. Four textbooks, each showing a different slant to the events of the time period, but all presenting a comprehensive discussion of the events of the Great Depression.

Use this space to indicate your preference and to discuss why.

3. In teaching a lesson on the Red Badge of Courage to 10th graders, Mr. Perez asks them to work in groups and …

a. Create a new ending or classify each of the characters into three categories of their choice and label the categories.

b. Describe the plot and be able to explain five major events.

4. In a plan book, a lesson on improper fractions includes three steps.

a. State the objective, explain the concept of improper fractions, have students work with 20 improper fractions.

b. State the objective, show three improper fraction examples, ask students “What makes a fraction improper?”

5. A teacher introduces an earth science lesson on fog.

a. “What do you already know about fog.… Tell your neighbor what you know and write down all the things that you both talk about. Go, you have about 4 minutes.”

b. “Fog is a very interesting weather pattern.… It is thick, dark and mysterious. We’re going to learn what causes it … and why it exists in only certain places.”

6. As guided practice to a lesson on civil war, Miss Katz asks students to …

a. Complete a graphic organizer labeling three major factors that make a war “civil.”

b. Get into pairs to discuss three major factors that make a war “civil.”

Use this space to indicate your preference and to discuss why.

7. In looking at some graphs about weather and climate, Ms. Dunn asks a question of her 9th graders.

a. “In graph #3, what are the three years of highest rainfall in Bolivia?”

b. “Graph #3 ends in 1991, what do you think Bolivia’s rainfall was in 1992. Why might this be the case?”

8. In a Government lesson on “rights,” Lilly answers a question on the rights of wolves as an endangered species by saying “Well, … there are two reasons. First, I think wolves are just like dogs … and we can think of them like pets. Also, you know that they got rights too. We can’t just be killin’ ‘em.” Mr. Wallace responds by saying …

a. “Good point.… They are like dogs, and, as pets dogs have more rights … nice job, Lilly.”

b. “Because they are like dogs why should they have more rights?”

9. In a Business Marketing I class, students must examine the stock market. Mrs. Parenti assesses learning by …

a. Having each student follow a stock for 3 weeks and write a report that includes 3 reasons a person should buy the stock and 3 reasons to sell it.

b. Having each student follow a stock for 3 weeks and report its history and predict the next week’s outcome in graph form.

10. Mrs. Robins conferences with her student teacher regarding the use of questions during instruction.

a. “You need to use lots of questions in each lesson to really keep the pace going and the kids on track.”

b. “You need to include questions but not so many. You should to slow down and let the kids really think about the questions.”

Use this space to indicate your preference and to discuss why.

11. In health class on prenatal development, Mr. Small has students …

a. Tell how the function of the umbilical cord and placenta might be compared to Morse code and the telephone.

b. Draw a diagram of the umbilical cord and placenta and mark with arrows the flow of nutrients and oxygen.

12. Mrs. Brown has 15 pictures of British Columbia. She comes into class and sets them on the table and says …

a. “I want you to come up here and look at these picture. Bring your notebooks and try to do some of the following: put the pictures in groups … identify the kinds of people who live here … decide what people do for a living … predict anything else that you can about this place and its people.”

b. “As you know, British Columbia is a Canadian province noted for its beauty, its wonderful people, its rainy yet warm seasons, its fishing industry and its cultural opportunities. Look at these pictures and find evidence supporting these statements.”

Now that you have articulated your own teaching preferences, compare your initial analyses with the “Constructivist Teaching Practices” recommended by Brooks and Brooks (1993) in their classic book, The Case for Constructivist Classrooms. As you examine each of the practices outlined below, refer to the responses you gave for each of the questions above. Note the one-to-one correspondence of each item above and the constructivist practices listed below. As you reread each item, consider which option Brooks and Brooks might select. When you have finished, check your responses with those in the “Brooks & Brooks Preference Key” in the margin. This key represents our interpretation of what Brooks and Brooks might prefer.

These recommended practices are adapted from Brooks, J. & Brooks, M. (1993). The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Constructivist Teaching Practices

1. Encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.

2. Use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive, and physical materials whenever possible.

3. Use cognitive terminology such as “classify,” “analyze,” “predict,” and “create” when framing tasks.

4. Allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies, and alter content.

5. Inquire about students’ understandings of concepts before sharing teacher understandings about those concepts.^*

6. Encourage students to engage in dialogue, with one another and the teacher.

7. Provoke student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encourage students to pose questions to each other.

8. Seek elaboration of students’ initial responses.

9. Engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and beliefs and then encourage discussion.

10. Allow wait time after posing questions.

11. Provide time for students to think analogously by creating relationships and metaphors.

12. Nurture students’ natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model:

a. Provide open-ended opportun...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• PREPARING TO EXPLORE CONSTRUCTIVIST STRATEGIES
• 1 EXPLORING CURRENT BELIEFS
• 2 CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY: THE ROOTS OF THE MOVEMENT
• 3 PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATIONS
• 4 CONCERNS, PROBLEMS, AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT CONSTRUCTIVIST TEACHING PRACTICES
• 5 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
• AFTERWORD
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS
• INDEX