Constructivism manifests in a variety of classroom instructional practices. When a teacher implements constructivist teaching practices, every aspect of the classroom is affected. Following are some areas of instructional practice that are altered when constructivist principles serve as a foundation for teaching.
Prior Knowledge Central to Planning As the teacher plans learning experiences, the students’ background knowledge becomes an important consideration in the learning design. The teacher will look for student perspectives, misconceptions and immature or advanced understanding of concepts. Classroom activities will challenge current understanding and push for deeper insight.
Diverse Learner Needs Considered Diverse background experiences require instructional planning that acknowledges diversity in terms of what students understand and need. Learning grounded in constructivism assesses where students are individually and supports them by meeting personal learning needs throughout the learning process.
Connections Made to Bigger Ideas Teachers who apply constructivist principles build learning experiences around primary concepts and bigger ideas. Designing lessons that connect facts and topics to bigger ideas helps learners make connections to concepts, principles and theories as they create meaning and expand mental models.
Learning Occurs in Meaningful Contexts Teachers recognize the importance of designing learning experiences that are relevant, meaningful and interesting to the learner. Methods such as inquiry-based learning or problem-based learning are used to pose realistic problems to students so learning is rooted in student investigation of personal questions and the quest to find a solution. Drawing the students into the learning experience with inquiry and real-world problems makes students more apt to become actively involved in learning. Learning focuses on the learners and their interests as a central part of the experience rather than memorization of isolated pieces of information.
Varied Resources Provided Students have the opportunity to work with multiple, varied resources as they become actively involved in learning. Teachers recognize that diverse learners acquire information differently. To facilitate understanding, resources are selected that will support diverse learning needs. In addition, varied resources expose learners to different opinions and perspectives.
Assessment for Learning Assessment is part of the learning process. Students use assessment to guide reflection on learning and the learning process. Teachers use assessment data to inform instructional decision-making.
Collaboration becomes Fundamental to Learning Teachers structure collaboration into the learning process. Collaboration is viewed as an essential piece of learning and becomes the norm for how learning takes place in the classroom. Teachers structure collaborative groups so students are exposed to different points of view and engage in discussion and reflection related to the concepts they are learning.
Teacher Functions as Facilitator and Guide Developing meaning and understanding is a personal experience. Teachers realize that for students to develop meaning they need to be guided and coached through the process of constructing knowledge. Teachers relinquish the role of being an expert who transmits knowledge to students to a role of learning guide and facilitator.
eMINTS teachers find that some of their habitual teaching and classroom-management practices continue to work effectively in a technology-rich, constructivist environment, while other practices require major overhauls.