Social Contructivism

Social Constructivism, to my understanding is a theory/way of teaching or learning that goes against the traditional ways. It is being used in education facilities, but has still a long way to go before it can be seen as the most used theory/strategy. This way of teaching or learning is best characterised in Yilmaz’s report (2008, pg. 169) “Teachers facilitate and guide rather than dictate autocratically.”  Basically, this means that instead of the student just listening and absorbing what the teacher is saying, they also contribute to the learning through questions and collaboration. “In the constructivist classroom, learning emphasizes the process, not the product. How one arrives at a particular answer is what matters.” (Yilmaz 2008, pg. 170)

A man named John Abbott discusses constructivism concisely.

*Click the link below or scroll to the end of the page to see the embedded video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F00R3pOXzuk

Abbott suggests that a good teacher is one that takes what a student already knows and builds upon it. This is a good way of teaching IF the student has prior knowledge on the topic. A good example is in a primary school – in the early grades the students will learn how to add and subtract numbers, and how to spell simple words such as ‘dog’ and ‘cat.’ When they reach higher grades, the teacher will then teach them how to multiply and divide, and to spell harder words – adding onto what they already know. Another element to this strategy is the emphasis on the process to get the answer/result rather than the emphasis on the end result primarily. This reminds me of when I was at high school when in maths (both junior and senior) the teachers would tell us to show ALL working out and when being assessed, if we got the end answer wrong but all or most of the working out right we would still get a partly correct mark. This is a god way to teach, but the what if the student does not have prior knowledge?

Although it is very popular in western society, there are still many factors that suggest it still needs to be improved before being given primary position over other teaching strategies. Rowe (2006, pg. 2) states,

“..there is a strong body of evidence that exclusive evidence on constructivist approaches to teaching are neither initially nor subsequently in the best interest of any group of students, and especially for those experiencing learning difficulties..”

This is a VERY important factor to consider when choosing whether social constructivism is the right way to teach students. “..students engage in raw data or primary sources, aiming to develop students cognitive and higher order thinking skills.” (Yilmaz 2008, pg 170)
I present this question: What if the student is not at the level to have high order thinking? What if students are unable to easily engage?
These are the problems arising with social constructivism.

Rowe also states that this way of teaching and educating is most difficult for children from non-English speaking backgrounds. (2008, pg. 2) Further reading of Rowe’s report reveals that there is strong evidence of the limitations of exclusive constructivist methods of teaching. (pg. 3) An important word to note here is exclusive – perhaps with other methods implemented also, it could have a higher success.

“The key element of constructivism is that the learner is an active contributor to the learning process, and that teaching methods should focus on what the student can bring to the learning situation as much as on what is received from the environment….. Hence, the role of the teacher is to be the facilitator of learning (rather than a director or an orchestrator), and to provide opportunities for individual learners to acquire knowledge and construct meaning through their own activities, and through discussion, reflection and the sharing of ideas with other learners with minimalcorrective intervention.” (Rowe 2008, pg. 3)

The advantage of social constructivism is the allowance of student to student interaction and student to teacher input rather than just a teacher to student input into the learning process. The disadvantage to this is that there is a danger that the student will share with fellow peers misleading information, as well as the isolation of students with a minimal knowledge of the topic or learning disability.

When I become a teacher I will implement both the traditional teaching method as well at the constructivist method into my daily teaching. Until better strategies are created to account for student with learning disabilities while using a social constructivist method, I believe that it would be unfair and wrong to put emphasis on the prior knowledge of students without any aid. In future I can see this method being highly successful, with the improvement of accessible resources and technologies and developing theories to account for individual learner’s needs and abilities, and look forward to using it primarily when that time comes.

References:

Books:

Rowe, K. (2006). "Effective teaching practices for students with and without learning difficulties: Constructivism as a legitimate theory of learning AND of teaching?"

Yilmaz, K. (2008). Constructivism: Its Theoretical Underpinnings, Variations, and Implications for Classroom Instruction. Educational HORIZONS. p. 161 – 172.

Videos:

John Abbott
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F00R3pOXzuk

Images:

No prior knowledge

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/files/2013/03/math.jpg

Learning disabilities
https://nspt4kids.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/boy-in-classroom.jpg