Constructivist Learning versus Explicit Teaching: A personal discovery of balance

1. Constructivist Learning versus Explicit Teaching: A personal discovery of balance Tara Tetzlaff Spring 2009

2. What it Meant to be a Student • Teacher gave me information • Student gave information back on assignments and tests • Assignments & tests proved my accurate understanding of information

3. What it Means to be a Student • Navigate own path through a framework of information • Take responsibility for identifying significance of material • Take responsibility for identifying personal use of material

4. What it Meant to be a Teacher • Provide students with specific information • Create assignments & tests designed for students to demonstrate their accurate understanding of information • Tell students when they are right or wrong

5. What it Means to be a Teacher • Provide students with the tools and opportunities to learn new information • Mediate student learning and prod thinking through questions and feedback • Model thinking/behavior/communication through own actions

8. Constructivist Learning • Student-driven : responsibility is on learners, - develop their own understanding of information by actively using new information • Teachers: provide little direct information, - mediate students’ learning through questions and feedback

9. Principles of Constructivist Learning Active Engagement: learning by doing Constructive: new knowledge built on previously learned information Intentional: goal oriented Complex: challenging

10. Principles of Constructivist Learning Contextual: authentic and realistic framework Collaborative: learn from the perspectives & processes of others Conversational: share experiences and knowledge with others, develop relationships Reflective: connect information to self, think about own thinking

11. Constructivist Only Workshop

12. Advantages of an Only Constructivist Learning Workshop • Encourages focus on process of learning • Students develop their own working understanding of information • Students learn from mistakes

13. Disadvantages of an OnlyConstructivist Learning Workshop • Students might not have enough information to work with • Difficult to assess students’ understanding of new information • Need to get through certain tasks in limited amount of time

14. Explicit Teaching • Teacher-driven: responsibility is on teachers, - efficiently pass on specific information and insure minimal chance of student error • Students: learn information as it is provided by teacher - demonstrate accurate understanding

15. Steps of Explicit Teaching 1. Orientation: introduction and overview 2. Presentation: instructor demonstrates completion of task, breaks task into sub goals and steps, models process and thinking strategies 3. Structured Practice:instructor completes task again, this time with students working along

16. Steps of Explicit Teaching 4. Guided Practice: students complete task individually or in small groups as teacher answers and asks questions 5. Independent Practice: students take work home to complete on their own, then return work for teacher corrections

17. Advantages of an Explicit Teaching Only Workshop • Defined steps and sub goals provide clear task objectives • Instructor modeling provides example of expected student behavior and thinking • Repeated practice reinforces student learning of process and steps

18. Disadvantages of an Only Explicit Teaching Workshop • Not enough time to go through so many construction cycles • Students can feel “talk at” and get bored, making them less attentive to instruction • Students cannot take materials home for independent practice

19. Combination Workshop

21. Technic Beams

22. Plates

23. Axle

24. Pegs

25. Piston Rod & Spur Gear

27. Combination Workshop • Explicit presentation of LEGO parts and use • Instructor modeling of building strategies • Structured and guided practice • Actively Engaged, Complex, Contextual, Collaborative, Conversational, and Reflective

28. With Grade-School Students: * more structured practice * more guided practice * more conversation * more reflection

29. Constructivist Learning Explicit Teaching