What is social constructivism?

Social constructivism is in essence, all about constructing understanding and knowledge of

our interpretation about the world around us, through experiences and reflection upon these
experiences.
An important aspect of social constructivism is that learning is built from knowledge that
students already possess about the world.
Social constructivism places a strong emphasis on problem solving and constructing new
ways of thinking and encourages collaboration.
In an education setting, social constructivism focuses on student centred learning and the
teachers role being that of a facilitator, rather than instructor. Ideally, both the student and
the teacher are always provided with opportunities within the classroom environment to
create new ways of thinking and problem solving.
How does it relate to the ICT Integration Project?
The lessons that we have planned for this ICT integration Project are drawn from the major
ideas presented by constructivism theory. In an early childhood education setting, it is
important that the students are active in their own learning, that they are motivated by the
idea of learning new things. The lessons we have designed focus on providing students with
many opportunities to develop on skills and knowledge they already possess.
Integrating ICT into the classroom is a great way of achieving learning through social
constructivism. ICT is a great way to support learning. Children are provided not only with
endless possibilities of exploration, but are also allowed the opportunity to engage in the
creation of their own learning experiences. Using ICT to support learning rather than as the
focus of learning is something that is key to our lessons.
Both the students and teachers are active participants in this approach. All of our lessons are
focused on student-teacher interaction. The teacher is facilitating student learning in a
variety of ways, but the learning is ultimately student-centred, which allows for the
development of individualised ideas.
ICT provides students with opportunities to explore, experiment and collaborate to develop
knowledge. ICT is engaging and motivating for students in the 21 st century, which allows
them to ultimately become more interested in the learning that is taking place. We have
provided the students with several opportunities to engage in learning through integrating
different types of ICT into lessons which provide a medium which students are familiar and
comfortable with, to facilitate their learning.
Throughout our lessons it should also become evident that we have provided many
opportunities for collaboration and group work, which is a key aspect to the constructivist
theory. It is important to recognise that encouraging collaboration within a classroom is vital
to student-centred learning. Collaboration provides many opportunities for students to
become aware of the many different ways of thinking and understanding.
Our ICT Integration Project provides students with opportunities over the course of four
lessons, to use ICT as a tool to support the construction of knowledge.

References
Bate, F., Macnish, J. & Males, S. (2015). Why use technology? Manuscript in preparation.
Jonassen, D., Davidson, M., Collins, M., Campbell, J., & Haag, B. (1995), Constructivism
and computer-medicated communication in distance education. American
Journal of
Distance Education, 9(2), 7-26.
Kantor, R., Madrid, S. (2007). Social constructivism. Early childhood education: An
international encycolpedia. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. Retreived from
http://ipacez.nd.edu.au/login?
url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/abceceduc/social_constructivism/
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