Constructionism/Constructivism in Practice

Constructivism with a "v" has to do with the idea that students construct their own understanding of concepts, while constructionism with an "n" has to do with the idea that students learn best when they build or construct an artifact that can be shared with other students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). The instructional practice of generating and testing hypotheses follows the learning theories of constructivism and constructionism because students are actively constructing their own understanding by generating their own hypotheses, and they are building artifacts by testing their hypotheses.

I believe generating hypotheses is a very worthwhile task for students because of the high cognitive demand it involves. They are constructing their own understanding because they are using their own ideas to come up with new hypotheses. According to Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007), using these types of complex mental processes enhances students' understanding of content. I can think of no other way to put constructivist theory into practice than to have students complete these tasks, because students have to truly create their own ideas and understanding.

Testing hypotheses is a great example of constructionism because of the many ways we can implement this strategy. Of course, the most obvious examples occur in science where we conduct physical experiments to get results. However, this can go beyond the science classroom to incorporate other content areas. The advancement of technology has helped this instructional strategy become more effiicient because students can spend less time on gathering data, and more time interpretting it (Pittler, et al., 2007). This is important because one key idea of constructionism is that students build an artifact in order to share it with others so that they may learn and benefit from it. Allowing the builders of the artifact to spend more time interpretting data will allow for more thinking on analyzing the results and reporting them to others.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program seven. Constructionist and constructivist learning theories. [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cognitive Learning Theory in Practice

The instructional strategy of cues, questions, and advance organizers help to increase students' ability to organize, use, and retrieve information (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). This correlates to the cognitive learning theory of elaboration because this strategy helps students to make numerous connections between information (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Teaching students to organize information using these methods also helps to train their brains to store and retrieve information within their long-term memories. Both cues and questions help students to retrieve prior knowledge from their long-term memories, while advance organizers help students organize and focus their learning for retention in their long-term memories (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Advance organizers can also be used to reinforce Palvio's dual-coding hypothesis because many are used with both texts and images (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). The examples presented Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007) are expositiory, narrative, and graphic organizers. All of these have the capability for reinforcing dual-coding, but the main advance organizer that prefer is the graphic organizer because it is more visual. This applies to cognitive learning theories because "integrating multiple senses in presentations improves learning" (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007).

The summarizing and note taking instructional strategy helps teach students to blend information into shorter forms (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Summarizing helps to improve short-term or working memory because it chunks information into smaller pieces. Summarizing information teaches students to learn what is necessary in the information they are presented with. In my opinion, summarizing information is similar to the networks of information that Dr. Michael Orey discusses when describing long-term memory because they have to omit information, keep information, and possibly add information (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007). They are making those connections between networks because of these decisions they are making about the presented information. Note taking relates to cognitivism because it also helps to organize information for students as well as to help them deepen their understanding of information (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). In Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, (Pittler, et al., 2007) say that it is beneficial to vary the note-taking methods in your class. This is similar to the cognitivism idea of appealing to more senses. That is because mixing up your methods should include techniques that appeal to visual learners as well as auditory learners.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program five. Cognitive Learning Theories[Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenosk, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that work.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behaviorism in Practice Assignment

Reinforcing effort is one instructional strategy that correlates with the learning theory of behaviorism. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) state that success is the wisest choice for people to achieve and maintain success because it is the only source for which an individual has control. They also claim that belief in one’s self has a pivotal role in student motivation and achievement (Pitler, et al., 2007). Therefore, it is paramount as teachers that we address students’ beliefs about how their effort influences their learning. The reason I believe this strategy correlates with behaviorism is because of the methods that Pitler, et al. present for students to track their effort along with their achievement. Pitler, et al. (2007) present a rubric students can use with a spreadsheet to keep track of their progress. They also show how teachers can create surveys to have students self-assess themselves, and track their effort over time. These methods are used to help students change their beliefs, and make connections between effort and achievement (Pitler, et al., 2007). This aligns with a key idea of behaviorism, which is that behaviors are learned, and they can be unlearned or replaced as well (Orey, 2001).

Another instructional strategy that correlates with behaviorism is homework and practice. Homework and practice provide students opportunities to increase their knowledge of the content as well as to become more capable with their basic skills (Pitler, et al., 2007). This strategy corresponds with behaviorism because of the opportunities for specific feedback. This feedback is a form of reinforcement whether it is positive or negative. This strategy can also be used through technological resources so that students can have immediate feedback. There are many online resources available for students in many different content areas. One example of educational technology that presents this type of immediate feedback is the spelling and grammar check and autosummarize tools for Microsoft Word (Pitler, et al., 2007). Another aspect of homework and practice that aligns with behaviorism is that it requires multiple practice sessions for students to become competent with a certain skill, while it takes multiple rewarded responses for a behavior to be learned (Pitler, et al., 2007).

References

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved January 12, 2011 from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.