FACILITATING LEARNING

MODULE 14: CONSTRUCTIVISM:

KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION/
CONCEPT LEARNING
LEIZL A. APUANG
MAUREEN MAE E. MANA-AY
 “If you teach a person what to learn,
you are preparing that person for the past.
If you teach a person how to learn, you are
preparing for the future.”
- Cyril Houle
 OBJECTIVES

• Explain the role of constructivism in facilitating

learning
• Describe strategies to promote knowledge
construction
• Describe strategies to facilitate concept
learning
 CONSTRUCTIVISM
• It is a theory on how humans generate
knowledge and meaning from an interaction
between their experiences and their ideas.
• Based on observation and scientific study about
how people learn
• It says that people construct their own
understanding and knowledge of the world,
through experiencing things and reflecting on
those experiences
KEY INFLUENTIAL
FIGURES IN
CONSTRUCTIVISM
 JEAN PIAGET
Piaget believed that children
learn through organization and
schemas. He believed that by
organizing concepts and ideas,
children place them into
schemas. He believed that
children are in control of the
knowledge that they are
provided and move forward in
construct their own learning by
taking part in social activities &
exploration
 JEAN PIAGET
The learner is advanced through three
mechanisms

• Assimilation - fitting a new experience

into an existing mental structure (schema)
• Accommodation - revising an existing sc
hema because of new experience.
• Equilibrium - seeking cognitive stability
through assimilation and accommodation
 LEV VYGOTSKY
 Created social cognition
learning which asserts that
culture is the prime determinant
of a child’s social development.

 He proposed the zone of

proximal development,
collaborative learning,
scaffolding, and anchored
instruction (technology based
learning where students build
on what they already know).
 LEV VYGOTSKY
associated with the social constructivist theory

1. Making meaning - the community places a central role, and

the people around the student greatly affect the way he or she
sees the world.
2. Tools for cognitive development - the type and quality of
these tools (culture, language, important adults to the student)
determine the pattern and rate of development.
3. The Zone of Proximal Development - problem solving
Skills of tasks can be placed into three categories:
1. Those performed independently by the learner.
2. Those that cannot be performed even with help.
3. Those that fall between the two extremes, the tasks that can
be performed with help from others.
 JEROME BRUNER
Vygotsky believed that learning
needs to be engaging. Vygotsky
believed that learning takes place
as children are interacting with
each other and exploring their
environment. He believed that
learning is simultaneous to social
interaction and exploration. In
other words, he did not feel as
though one was more important
than the other.
 JOHN DEWEY
 A part of the progressive
education movement
which focused on
educating the whole entire
body of a child, socially,
mentally, and physically
 Dewey was known as a
pragmatist, who only
believed the truth of
theories if the theory
actually worked
TWO VIEWS OF
CONSTRUCTIVISM
 INDIVIDUAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

• Also called cognitive constructivism

• Indirect instruction

• Largely based on Piaget’s Theory

• Child-centered and discovery learning

 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

• Based on Vygotsky’s theory

• Conditions of knowledge is shared

by two or more people

• Social and interaction context

CONSTRUCTIVISM
IS A LEARNING THEORY
• Learning is an active process in which the
learner uses sensory input and constructs
meaning out of it.
• People learn to learn as they learn.
• The crucial action of constructing meaning
is mental.
• Learning involves language.
• Learning is a social activity.
• Learning is contextual.
• One needs knowledge to learn.
• It takes time to learn.
• Motivation is a key component in learning
CHARACTERISTICS
OF CONSTRUCTIVISM
LEARNERS CONSTRUCT UNDERSTANDING

• Learners are not just empty vessels waiting

to be filled up
• Learners are active thinkers who interpret
new information based on what they
already know
• Learners construct knowledge in a way that
makes sense to them
 NEW LEARNING DEPENDS ON CURRENT
UNDERSTANDING

• Background information is important

• It is through the present views or scheme
that the learner has, that new information
will be interpreted
 LEARNING IS FACILITATED BY
SOCIAL INTERACTION

• Learning communities help learners take

responsibility for their own learning
• Teachers play the role of facilitator rather
than an expert who has all the knowledge
 MEANINGFUL LEARNING OCCURS WITHIN
AUTHENTIC LEARNING TASKS

• Involves a learning activity that entails

constructing knowledge that is akin to the
to the knowledge needed when applied
in the real world
ORGANIZING
KNOWLEDGE
 CONCEPT

A concept is a way of grouping or

categorizing objects or events in
our mind. It includes a group of
tasks such as model, discuss,
illustrate, explain, assist, etc.
 Examples of Concepts

• Concrete concepts
have aspects or dimensions that are easily
seen, heard, or touched.

• Semi-concrete concepts
have some combination of concrete and
non-concrete characteristics.
 Concepts as Feature Lists
• Defining Feature
- is a characteristic
present in ALL instances.

• Correlation Feature
is one that is present in
many positive instances but
not essential for concept
membership
 Concepts as Prototypes
Prototype is an
idea or a visual
image of a
typical example.
It is usually formed
based on the
positive instances
that learners
encounter most
often.
 Concepts as Exemplars

Represents a
variety of
examples. It
allows learners
to know that an
example under
a concept may
have variability.
 Make Concept-learning Effective
• Provide a clear definition of the concept
• Make the defining features very concrete and
prominent
• Give a variety of positive instances
• Give negative instances
• Give a “best example” or prototype
• Provide opportunity for learners to identify
positive and negative instances
• Ask learners to think of their own example of
the concept
• Point out how concepts can be related to
each other
 SCHEMA & SCRIPT
Schema is an organized body of knowledge
about something. It is like a file of information
you hold in your mind about something. Like a
schema of what a teacher is.

Script is a schema that includes a series of

predictable events of a specific activity.
 APPLYING CONSTRUCTIVISM IN
FACILITATING LEARNING

• Aim to make learners understand a few key

ideas in an in-depth manner, rather than taking
up so many topics superficially.
• Give varied examples.
• Provide opportunities for experimentation.
• Provide lots of opportunities for quality
interaction.
• Have lots on hands-on activities.
• Relate your topic to real life situations
• Do not depend on the explanation method all
the time.