Constructivist teaching method helps to teach children based on what they already know using the knowledge they have to further more knowledge. In chapter two, in extending children’s knowledge of how the earth revolves around the sun, the teacher takes her students outside on a sunny day and has them trace the shadows of different objects. The shadows movements are than compared throughout the day, thus the children are eager to further their knowledge on what is causing the movements of the shadow. The active learning is an effective way of children to learn because they are involved in a process versus listening to someone lecture, reading out of a book or watching a video.
I am in all support of this method of teaching. While growing up, my favorite part of my day in school was going to science class, biology lab, chemistry lab and most of math class. This is because in the science classes, the instructor allowed us to experiment and see different images under a microscope. We were also able to mix different chemicals and see how it would react. This helped to enforce what we learned through reading textbooks or lectures.
Math class provided the opportunity to use numbers and find the solutions to various types of problems. Once the teacher taught you the process and steps to reaching the correct answer, we were able to use what we learned, input the numbers where ever they belonged and solve for an answer. When you checked your answer by inputting your answer back in the equation and it was the correct solution, the joy of being able to solve that problem you thought was hard at first was your reward. Also in math, the knowledge you obtained in one topic of a subject has to be used in the next stage. If you didn’t fully understand the previous, you wouldn’t be able to move forward. So working out problems and understanding what you are doing instead of memorization only helps your development.
When a teacher is able to relate what they are teaching to on hands activities it is a great thing because of the effect it has on the learning process of a student.
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and I enjoyed going to those same classes. The best teachers always made sense of why we were doing teh hands on activities. The biggest difference between high school and college was that towards the senior year of my undergrad degree, i started understanding each and every step during an experiment and ways to manipulate the experiment to achieve what I wanted, whereas high school I learned after finishing the activity why we were doing it in the first place. Now that I teach undergraduate chemistry labs, when Im asked a question I try to think out loud and have the students follow, so that they can start answering their own questions. More generally, I want them to analyze what the purpose of each step is and what effect it might have on the results if and how it is altered.
The teacher taking the students outside is a great learning tool, simply by altering the environment. Having the privilidge of working outside the normal everyday environment, such as the classroom can make learning new material more exciting, especially if the new material can be related to the new environment. What other activities would you suggest for changing the environment but relating it to lets say, a math lesson?
Thinking out loud is an excellent way to help others understand how to go about solving a problem or getting an answer. It will definitely assist with analyzing and better understanding.
DeleteYou ask a very good question. How can one alter the environment to teach math?...hmmm...I'm not to sure as of yet on how to do this effectively but have been thinking about it. Other than math games and other in classroom activities, i haven't thought of an outside classroom experience for a math lesson.
Learning about (and being an active) learner is an amazing thing. Through the opportunity to actually experience knowledge we can really drive home lessons. This is a way in which technology can greatly enhance learning for students. If monitored the right way we can allow students to participate in learning through tools such as the WebQuest.
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