Constructivism

Hello everyone!! Fall is in the air!! I'm so excited!!

For this post, I wanted to enlighten those of you who are unfamiliar with Constructivism. Most of you know about the traditional classroom setting where the teacher lectures, and tries to fill her little vessels (aka students) full of knowledge. The teacher is perceived as the all knowing and giver of knowledge..... well experts have researched and studied and have some wonderful findings. Turns out, students are actually the maker of meaning! They construct knowledge from prior experiences. It is as if their brains are filing cabinets filled with manilla folders :) and when given new information, they reach in a store it in the correct file or either make a new file.

Constructivism is not necessarily an approach, strategy or even a set of techniques. Constructivism is a theory that specifies that knowledge is constructed through one’s own experiences. The theory of meaning making where we invent our own concepts and ideas linked from what we already know.

Students work in groups, are engaged, and learn from their applications as well as their peers. Teachers are then given the value of time to circulate around and engage, coach, assist, and assess.

This is an amazing feature of what today's educators are hoping to achieve. Stay tuned!! This topic will be presented quite often and parents, students, admin, and teachers will be accustomed to hearing this and seeking to implement this teaching method.

Thank you ! Kristyn Birdsong