The Constructionist/Constructivism Learning Theories in Practice

While the constructivist and constructionist learning theories are often associated as one and the same, they actually have some vast differences.  Dr. Orey associates constructivist learning as students creating their own meaning to the information they are learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  He further describes constructionism, on the other hand, as having the students actually creating something based on their learning. 

Generating and testing hypotheses is one strategy that fits these learning theories and can incorporate technology in a variety of ways (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).  Students generate questions to the topics they are learning, check their findings, and then test their hypothesis.  A variety of programs such as Microsoft Excel are well suited for this task by enabling the students to easily collect data in one central place as well as allowing them to create graphs and charts based on the information they collect. 

This year, my first grade students have been very interested in learning what life was like long ago.  We have spent a great amount of time learning about the differences in peoples’ lives from the past as compared to today.  Since students are excited about the upcoming holidays, we took this time as an opportunity to learn about the Pilgrims.  Plimoth Plantation is a site that has helped us immensely these past few weeks.  There have been a variety of virtual field trips through Scholastic that take place at Plimoth Plantation and have helped us discover what life was like back then.  One section in particular, called You are the Historian, is an interactive program that allowed us to investigate what life was like for the Pilgrims.  I had my students generate hypotheses of what some of the equipment the Pilgrims had back then was used for that we no longer use today.  It was interesting to hear what they thought the objects’ purpose was.  The online program helped us to further investigate because we could ask for help from different Pilgrims.  They gave us clues to our investigation that helped us to narrow down our hypotheses.  Having the students test out their thoughts and continuing to investigate the purpose of the items empowered them to construct their own understanding of the material rather than having the teacher give them the answer. 

I noticed the students learned far more information through this format than the lessons we have done in the past that had them coloring and cutting out worksheets with pictures of the objects.  The students thrived during their investigations and were far more engaged in learning about life in the past than they would otherwise normally be because they were constructing their own meaning to the information. 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Instructional Theory vs. Learning Theory. Baltimore: Author.

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