Justification
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Justification
Constructivism is perceived as individuals “constructing their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.”(Thirteen Education)
In the classroom constructivism is a constant and on going process with both teachers and students. As teachers we are constantly expanding our knowledge and experience somewhat like our students. It is vital that in the classroom setting we are constantly giving students opportunities to learn through a variety of techniques. Each student has their own persona of learning style ranging from auditory to kinaesthetic. For constructivism to occur we need to be “encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing.” (Thirteen Education) By incorporating a range of educational tools that have been explored throughout this unit, this enables students to develop their own understandings. As we are moving forward into a computer literate society, we will be teaching a generation surrounded by technology. By including programs into information technology lessons such as Kompozer, Audacity, Diigo, Micro-worlds, Kahootz or Inspiration, this is providing students with different tools to use that caters for different learning styles. It is important to try and include these in the classroom whether it's having a play around on micro-worlds or using google docs to work collaboratively in a group project. This is not only exposing these students to a variety of educational tools it is giving them knowledge and life skills.
When children are engaged in the various activities, they learn more rather than sitting at a desk trying to listen and take in what is being said. By being involved in the task at hand, students are creating their own thinking and understanding and also gives the children ownership about what they are learning and how they have learnt it. Whilst reflecting on what constructivism has to do with the classroom application, I found this statement summarizing my thoughts on how it can be perceived. In the classroom constructivism can “prompt students to formulate their own questions (inquiry) allow multiple interpretations and expressions of learning (multiple intelligences) and encourage group work and the use of peers as a resource (collaborative learning).”(Thirteen Education.)