Constructivist Theory

The constructivist theory is defined by the University of Sydney as a learning theory that "suggests that humans construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences."  One can also view the constructivist approach as the opposite of objectivism, where students are passive learners of materials.  How does this learning theory translate to technology integration in the classroom?  

When I think of constructivist being used in a technology integrated classroom, I cannot help but think of social media.  Shea (2007), as cited by Beth Perry and Margaret Edwards in their book Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning, mentions how the shift from objectivism to constructivism in the classroom, "help[s] to develop virtual communities" that foster "student-centered, learner-directed, interactive, participative pedagogical methods are congruent with the establishment of community in the online class, with social interaction and ultimately with learning" (p. 190).  Blogs are an example of a teaching tool that correlates well with the constructivist theory.  With blogging, students are in charge of their learning and are responding to others based on past knowledge, as well as learning new information from their peers through social interaction.  

Constructivism is also about self-exploration when it comes to a student's education.  According to Bruner, students should be encouraged to discover principles for themselves rather than given to them by their instructor (http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/constructivist.html).  Bruner also mentions the importance of spiraling content so that students continue to learn off of past knowledge. It is important for the teacher to teach content that contains information that students have been previously exposed to as to be able to build upon previously learned knowledge.  With our social studies curriculum, the students are given new material that is based off material learned in previous lessons.  Students receive a newspaper each week for social studies that takes old ideas and vocabulary and expands on them so that students' understanding can continue to grow with each lesson.

What I took away from our readings is that the constructivist theory is about turning our students into critical thinkers and reminds me of the Blooms Questioning Model.  "Foundational" questions, or questions with only one answer or one that can be recalled with a one-answer response from memory, are at the bottom and are more objective in nature.  Higher order thinking questions, located on the top of the Blooms questioning model, ask students to create, justify, or even teach material.  Just by comparing the level of questions on Blooms can one see glaring differences between the constructivist theory and other more teacher-centered theories in education. 

http://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/learning_teaching/ict/theory/constructivism.shtml

Veletsianos, G. (2016)	Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning: Foundations and ApplicationsIssues in Distance Education. Athabasca University Press

Tall and Grande

“Tall”

 This particular chapter stood out to me because of some changes going on at our school.  This week, Youtube.com became unblocked so that students could now access it from school computers.  At the same time, we are currently looking into a possible security breach in our email system, so I am currently seeing both a tightening, but at the same time a loosening, of filtering and blocking that is described in this chapter. I liked the idea of “Zoey’s Room” being utilized to give students a safe place to chat about subjects related to STEM.  The chapter describes how important for “Zoey’s Room” to be “safe for participants, even using a third party vendor to verify any registrant’s identification” (p. 50).
 I also liked how the chapter focused on a rubric for blogging assignments.  It was discussed earlier in the course the lack of rubrics available for critiquing websites and other virtual communities, and with the rise of blog usage in the classroom, it is ever more important to use a rubric.  According to the chapter, “the quality of the discussions is better when the blogging system is in place” (p. 57).  Having set criteria and expectations leads to more purposeful posts.
 

“Grande”

 This chapter goes from focusing on the more restricted use of the internet to a more loosened grip on students’ and their use of the internet and blogs.  However, instead of turning students loose into the world of free blogging, it is important for educators to set “guidelines” for blogging that go beyond “netiquette” and into more of the reality that is being part of a blog of international bloggers (p. 72-73).  The chapter also speaks of the importance of students becoming “discerning internet readers” and becoming more tactical in how they share their information with others so that it may be accessed and added to (p. 79). 

"Short"

This next chapter, chapter two of The Socially Networked Classroom, really hit me personally.  In my first discussion of the fall semester in my Digital Learning Environments class, I was asked to define what I think of instructional technology as it applies to Digital Learning.  Well, I took this time to go on a tirade about how little my district cares about technology and, to quote myself, " When I see my fellow teachers from other districts speaking of how each student has a chromebook or iPad, I cannot help but feel envious that their district is so accepting and welcoming of technology."  

I realize now that I missed the point of the discussion, and this hiccup in my thinking of instructional technology was brought back into the spotlight by chapter 2 of the Socially Networked Classroom in the first paragraph:

"Some teachers work in schools with very little technology.  And some teachers work in schools that have lots of technology but choose not to use that technology, whether because they are too busy to learn something new or just fearful" (p. 11).  The author speaks of how, even though she talked the talk when it came to being a new literacies teacher, she didn't "walk the walk" and had a hard time implementing technology herself in professional development.  The article discusses different activities to social network in a classroom without much access to technology, including the use of literacy circles.  It discusses how blogs are an easy way to get students writing and using technology without the expenses of tablets or other mobile devices.  Most classrooms have at least a couple of computers that students can use to collaborate as a group on assignments in a digital environment. 

Chapter 2 made me think of ways that I currently utilize technology in my classroom, as well as possibilities for future integration.  I have one kindle per table group.  I could give students a topic with, say, math and have them create a collaborative blog post.  I currently use kindles for group quizzes where students work together in a fast paced environment to answer questions. 

My thinking about technology integration has definitely changed since that initial post.  I've learned that it's about the quality of instructional technology, not the quantity of resources you have, that make a successful technology-integrated assignment or lesson.  

The Socially Networked Classroom - Chapter 1 - The Writing is on the Screen

Chapter 1 of the book The Socially Networked Classroom by William Kist focused on how "connected" our students are, and how they are more in tune with their world than ever before thanks to social media.   What really stuck out to me when reading this interesting chapter was the section titled "The Myth of a "Safe" Adolescence."  It speaks of how only recently in our developed society have children been shielded from the world; children were often "left to fend for themselves" and had "very little schooling" and "puberty marked the moment when the fight for survival began in earnest" (Savage, 2007, as cited by Kist, p. 4).  The question we must ask ourselves is this: Why do we shield students from the world? 

I know that I am personally guilty of this.  When my students enter my classroom, I make sure the create a safe environment for them.  School, to me, is a safer representation of the world, where the outside world cannot touch us, that what is real is learning how to treat eachother kindly and learning from eachother.  The realities of the world are not allowed in, and any violence is spoken about during social studies as with Shay’s Rebellion. 

That is, until it’s “drill” day.

Drill day is one of the only days where the reality of our situation in that building is discussed.  What if there’s a shooter?  A fire?  What do we do once our safe place is no longer safe?

It is now that we explain to students to severity of a situation, providing scenarios and speaking of the real world.

The reality is, as expressed in this chapter, that children are not “better protected or any safer now than they were a century ago” given poverty, teen drinking, and sexual promiscuity (p. 5).  So treating these students as naïve humans that should be sheltered from reality is somewhat hypocritical to their situation.

Minecraft For Education

Today my students got a "first look" at Minecraft for Education, and were they excited!  They were in disbelief at the idea that we would be using the game in our classroom.  Now that I have figured out how to navigate the world with the help of my more Minecraft-savvy students, it's now time to figure out how to upload lesson plans and utilize the world for math, science and social studies.

I just got finished creating an account so I can contribute to the Minecraft Education conversation and found a post about "Minecraft for Math."  A fellow educator kindly mentioned that he had lesson plans available on his page.  Below is a screenshot for my educator dashboard - pretty cool!  Notice my adorable little 8-bit fox avatar!

I am so excited that I found a lesson plan on Order of Operations, which we just finished learning about!  What a great way to reinforce the concepts!

It even includes learning objectives that show how the lesson aligns with the TEKS.  My students  will have a hard time resisting this - I can't wait to introduce them to their first lesson!