Mr. Dominador D.

Mangao
Specialist (Science)
Training Programme Division
SEAMEO RECSAM
 Constructivist
approach to science
teaching and learning

 inquiry-based instruction in science

 interweaving of assessment and

instruction (multiple assessment)
A focus on cooperative learning and
collaborative projects

 The belief that diverse learners and those

with special needs can be full
participants in an effective science
classroom

 Integration of technology

 Standards movement in education

 National Science Education Standards , 1996

 Benchmarks for Science Literacy ( AAAS,1993)

 National Educational Technology

Standards(International Society for Technology
in Education, 2000)

 Standards for Technological Literacy: Content

for the Study of Technology (International
Technology Education Association, 2000)
  
 The Constructivist ‘Manifesto’

“ If I had to reduce all of educational

psychology to one principle, I would say
this: ‘The most important single factor
influencing learning is what the learner
already knows. Ascertain this and teach .
. . accordingly.’”

 Ausubel, David (1968). Educational

Psychology- A Cognitive View.

"a theory about knowledge and
learning.“

 knowledge is "temporary,
developmental, nonobjective,
internally constructed, and socially
and culturally mediated.“
( Fosnot,1996)
 learners
actively construct their own
knowledge by anchoring new
information to preexisting knowledge

 Learning does not occur in isolation,

either. Learners interact with the
knowledge, the learning environment,
and with other learners

 knowledge is viewed "as something

created, discovered, and experienced”
 "knowledge as an active construction
built up by the individual acting within a
social context that shapes and
constrains that knowledge but does not
determine it in an absolute sense”
(Applebee and Purves)

 Constructivist teaching empowers the

learner to construct and interpret
his/her understanding of knowledge
and reality.
 Constructivism is anchored on
cognitive psychology but from a
practical perspective has roots in
the "progressive" model of John
Dewey.
 learnersare active participants in
knowledge acquisition, and engage in
restructuring, manipulating,
reinventing, and experimenting with
knowledge to make it meaningful,
organized and permanent.

 Learningis an internal process and

influenced by the learner's personality,
prior knowledge and learning goals(
 Piaget
is probably the most well-
known contemporary constructivist.

 theidea that students, as well as all

humans, actively construct their
understandings of the world and
these constructions are significantly
influenced by prior knowledge,
beliefs, attitudes, and experiences.
 JeanPiaget and John Dewey
developed theories of childhood
development and education, what
we now call Progressive
Education, that led to the
evolution of constructivism.
 Piaget( cognitive
development)concluded that knowledge
cannot be transmitted intact from one
person to another; people must
construct their own knowledge and
their own understandings. Learning
does not occur by transmitting
information from the teacher or the
textbook (or the video or the
demonstration) to the child’s brain.
 each child constructs his or her
own meaning by combining prior
information with new information
such that the new knowledge
provides personal meaning to the
child ( Cobern, 1993).
 Piaget believed that humans learn through
the construction of one logical structure
(schema) after another.

 concluded that the logic of children and

their modes of thinking are initially entirely
different from those of adults.

 The implications of this theory and how he

applied them have shaped the foundation
for constructivist education.
 added new perspectives to constructivist
learning theory and practice

 Lev Vygotsky,

 Von Glasersfeld,

 Jerome Bruner, and

 David Ausubel.
 Vygotsky introduced the social aspect
of learning into constructivism ( social
constructivism).

 Defined the zone of proximal learning,”

according to which students solve
problems beyond their actual
developmental level ( but within their
level of potential development) under
adult guidance or in collaboration with
more capable peers.
 Bruner initiated curriculum
change based on the notion that
learning is an active, social
process in which student
construct new ideas or concepts
based on their current knowledge
( Discovery learning).
 Seecomparison of theories and
perspectives of learning
 Learning outcomes depend not
only on the learning environment
but also on what the learner
already knows, that is, pupils’
conceptions, purposes and
motivations influence the way
they interact with learning
materials in various ways.
 Learning involves constructing meanings of
what people hear or see by generating links
between their existing knowledge and new
phenomena attended to.

 New experiences are interpreted by

generating expectations based on present
knowledge and these are actively tested out.

 Everyone has sets of beliefs about how things

happen and expectations which enable us to
predict future events.
 construction of meaning is a continuous and
active process.

 This is to say that in learning situation,

learners are actively hypothesizing, checking,
and possibly changing their ideas as they
interact with phenomena and with other
people.

 In some cases, pupils do adapt and evolve

their thinking to accommodate new
experiences
 Although pupils may successfully construct
an intended meaning, they may be reluctant
to accept or believe it.

 Learning involves not only constructing the

intended ideas but also accepting them.

 Difficulties in learning science may arise at

either the construction or acceptance stage.
 Learners are responsible for their own
learning in that they have to direct their
attention to the learning task, draw on their
present knowledge to construct meaning and
evaluate that meaning.

 Unfortunately, many learning situations do

not encourage pupils to make scientific sense
of what they are expecting but rather to
pursue the “right answer” to the teacher’s
questions, textbook problems, or laboratory
exercises.
 By presenting science as a set of “right
answers”, pupils cannot make new
experiences meaningful to them and readily
“substitute external authority and rote
learning for internal authority and
understanding”.
  
 These science educators agree with Piaget
that knowledge is constructed and theorize
that students are builders of knowledge
structures. They have developed a number of
alternative models that have direct
implication for teaching science to secondary
school students.
 Importance of content Knowledge

 Integration of skills and content

 Intrinsic nature of motivation

 Role of learning groups

 See comparison of traditional and
constructivist classrooms
 Encourage and accept student autonomy and
initiative
 Use raw data and primary information

sources with manipulative, interactive, and

physical materials
 Use cognitive terminology such as “classify”,

“analyze”, “predict”, and “create”

 Allow student responses to drive lessons,

shift instructional strategies, and alter

content
 Inquire about students’ understandings of
concepts before sharing their own
understanding about the concepts
 Encourage students to engage in dialogue,

both with the teacher and with one another

 Encourage student inquiry by asking

thoughtful, open-ended questions and

encouraging students to ask questions of
each other
 Seek elaboration of students’ initial

responses
 Engage students in experiences that might
engender contradictions to their initial
hypotheses and then encourage discussion
 Allow wait time after posing a question
 Provide time for students to construct

relationships and create metaphors

 Nurture students’ natural curiosity through

frequent use of the learning cycle mode,

  
 Curriculum:

 Constructivism calls for the elimination of a

standardized curriculum.

 Instead, it promotes using curricula

customized to the students' prior knowledge.

 Also, it emphasizes hands-on problem

solving.
 educators focus on making connections
between facts and fostering new
understanding in students. Instructors tailor
their teaching strategies to student responses
and encourage students to analyze, interpret,
and predict information. Teachers also rely
heavily on open-ended questions and
promote extensive dialogue among students.
 Constructivism calls for the elimination of
grades and standardized testing. Instead,
assessment becomes part of the learning
process so that students play a larger role in
judging their own progress.
 First, teaching cannot be viewed as the
transmission of knowledge from enlightened
to unenlightened; constructivist teachers do
not take the role of the "sage on the stage."

 Rather, teachers act as "guides on the side"

who provide students with opportunities to
test the adequacy of their current
understandings.
 Second, if learning is based on prior
knowledge, then teachers must note that
knowledge and provide learning
environments that exploit inconsistencies
between learners' current understandings and
the new experiences before them.
 This challenges teachers, for they cannot
assume that all children understand
something in the same way. Further, children
may need different experiences to advance to
different levels of understanding.
 Third, if students must apply their current
understandings in new situations in order to
build new knowledge, then teachers must
engage students in learning, bringing
students' current understandings to the
forefront.

 Teachers can ensure that learning

experiences incorporate problems that are
important to students, not those that are
primarily important to teachers and the
educational system.
 Teachers can also encourage group
interaction, where the interplay among
participants helps individual students become
explicit about their own understanding by
comparing it to that of their peers.
 Fourth, if new knowledge is actively built,
then time is needed to build it.

 Ample time facilitates student reflection

about new experiences, how those
experiences line up against current
understandings, and how a different
understanding might provide students with
an improved (not "correct") view of the world.
 CLIS Model – Children’s Learning in
Science Model

 proposed by the CLIS group in United

Kingdom.
 has five phases, namely, orientation,

elicitation of ideas, restructuring of ideas,

application of ideas, and review change in
ideas
 Five Es – proposed by the Biological
Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) team.

 It has five phases namely, Engage, Explore,

Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate
 Generative Learning Model – the Learning in
science Project (LISP) at the University of
Waikato, New Zealand, used this model
proposed b y the team members, Osborne
and Freyberg in 1985.

 This model is centrally concerned with

clarifying the students’ existing views and
consolidating the scientific views with the
background experience and values of the
students. There are four phases, namely,
preliminary, focus, challenge, and
application.
 Interactive Learning Model – developed by the
“Making Sense of the World” project by
Biddulp and Osborne in 1984. This model
requires the teacher to take into account the
students’ prior knowledge and their
questions.
 . From the questions that arise, students are
to plan and carry out own investigations,
verify scientific concepts and critically
evaluate findings.

 There are 7 phases in this model, namely;

preparation, before views, exploratory
activities, students’ questions, investigations,
after views, and reflection.
  
 Children learn more, and enjoy more when
they are actively involved, rather than passive
listeners.

 Education works best when it concentrates on

thinking and understanding, rather than on
rote memorization. Constructivism
concentrates on learning how to think and
understand.
 Constructivist learning is transferable. In
constructivist classroom, students create
organizing principles that they can take with
them to other learning settings.

 Constructivism gives students ownership of

what they learn, since learning is based on
students’ questions and explorations, and
often the students have a hand in designing
the assessments as well.
 Constructivist assessment engages the
students’ initiatives and personal investments
in their journals, research reports, physical
models, and artistic representations.

 Engaging the creative instincts develops

students’ abilities to express knowledge
through a variety of ways. The students are
also more likely to retain and transfer the
new knowledge t real life.
 By grounding learning activities in an
authentic, real-world-context, constructivism
stimulates and engages students. Students in
constructivist classrooms learn to question
things and to apply their natural curiosity to
the world.
 Constructivism promotes social and
communication skills by creating a classroom
environment that emphasizes collaboration
and exchange of ideas. Students must learn
how to articulate their ideas clearly as well as
to collaborate on tasks effectively by sharing
in group projects.
 Students must therefore exchange ideas and
so must learn to “negotiate” with others and
to evaluate their contributions in a socially
acceptable manner. This is essential to
success in the real world, since they will
always be exposed to a variety of experiences
in which they will have to cooperate and
navigate among the ideas of others.
