Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Constructivism in Practice
Looking at Constructivist/constructionist learning theories this past week I think of the time I spent volunteering in a Montessori school as an undergraduate. I found their philosophy completely different from what I had always thought of as "schooling." The idea of giving children a learning map and having them find their way instead of leading them to a desired result is something that worked really well for a certain group of students. I look at this as something that works in combination with an individuals' learning modality, since some people can not learn without being told what to do, when and how to do it. I really like the idea of learning something new by going through a process and having someone facilitate it or guiding the way. It takes a special type of environment and facilitator to make this thing possible. I can remember some students coming into the school from Charter schools in the area and them having a terrible time in trying to acclimate to a new learning environment. The schools that they came from had no structure, no certified teachers, and principles with no educational backgrounds. They like the idea of not having a lot of structure, but they also didn't like to actually try and learn things on their own, mostly because the tools were never implemented in them to know how to learn. I believe that the early years it is easier for students to have a guide that gives them the needed tools to learn so that when they are older they can learn on their own.
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2 comments:
I've kind of been experiencing the same thing but backwards. I work for a charter school that services many at-risk students. Most of them come from the local city district and have a variety of problems. My school has a computer based curriculum which allows students to work at their own pace. It is certainly not perfect and I would agree that it does not provide the structure I enjoyed as a high school student, but the school serves a valuable purpose. We serve the kids that others have given up on.
I liked your statement, "The idea of giving children a learning map and having them find their way instead of leading them to a desired result". With pressure from administration to keep improving state test results, we teachers tend to be shepherds leading our students to a desired result instead of letting them find the path themselves. I tend to be a facilitator in my class: here are your instructions, here are the tools you will need, if you get stuck I am here to assist you to get to the result, but I won't do it for you. I find my students learn better this way and have a greater understanding of the ideas of the lesson than if I stood in front of the class and lectured.
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