The constructivist approach to education removes the teacher from the front of the classroom and places him or her into the folds of the learning process. The constructivist approach focuses on the student and how he or she learns, striving to provide the student with the means to teach themselves the content that the teacher puts forth. Constructivists believe that allowing students to find their own methods of learning and finding the answers to their questions through exploration, experimentation and experiences, enhances and benefits the learning process because the content then becomes more relevant to the students, thus, interesting. I suppose, in a way, it could be considered similar to the flipped classroom, in that the teacher and the lectures are not the focus. The focus for both methods is social interaction and self discovery. However, this constructivist method brings up a concern for me that merits more research. Recently, I had a conversation with my neighbor who is the mother of two elementary students and one high school student. This neighbor grew up in Europe with a very similar educational background to my own, based on the traditional teacher/lecturer ways. We discussed how her elementary aged daughter came home and explained that once again, her teacher was walking around the classroom, not standing in front. This girl explained that she found it very distracting for the teacher to be all over the place. She said fellow students often start to get crazy in class when lessons are taught like this. Now this is just one case, but the questions that her comments bring up cannot be ignored. The other aspect that we spoke about and one that many people may become defensive about, is discipline and respect for authority. We seem to have a problem arising, particularly in this country, with regard to ownership of responsibilities and mistakes. Technology, discipline (or lack thereof) and changing opinions are breeding children who do not have patience, respect for authority or a sense of ownership of the consequences of one's own behavior. I know that not everyone will agree with that statement. I also know that I agree with a lot of what the constructivist approach tries to convey. I do feel that the best learning takes place when students are eager and willing to learn. Constructivism facilitates this learning in a productive way. I do wonder, though, what is the result of taking the reins away from the teacher and giving them to the student? Obviously, it's not the same for every student. The old-school thought is that you do what you are told when you are told to do it and you don't make any arguments about it. Through this method, we learned to respect our elders, respect authority, respect deadlines and appreciate that we are not the center of the universe. Does the constructivist approach have a replacement method for these essential skills? Image found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kathycassidy/3547762946
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Victoria LaksoElementary Education Major Archives
November 2016
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