{"id":467,"date":"2017-09-22T01:11:37","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T06:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/?p=467"},"modified":"2017-09-22T01:22:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T06:22:41","slug":"constructivist-learning-theory-as-the-way-forward-for-21st-century-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/constructivist-learning-theory-as-the-way-forward-for-21st-century-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Constructivist Learning Theory as the way Forward for 21st Century Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a9 2017 Funderstanding.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am a secondary school teacher. Facilitating learning is what I am paid to do. All of the various theories advocated by these two articles affect me in some regard. In the 21st century, the sheer volume of consumable content is constantly expanding at an exponential rate. As such, constructivist learning theory, whose goal of instruction is not to ensure the knowledge of facts, but rather that learners can elaborate on and interpret information, is the most effective in navigating 21st century learning contexts\u00a0(Ertmer, Newby and Merrill, 2013). The complex problems of the 21st century will not be solved by behaviourist thinkers who try to isolate a problem from its context and adjust stimuli until they achieve a desired result since it is \u201cgenerally agreed that behavioral principles cannot adequately explain the acquisition of higher level skills or those that require a greater depth of processing\u201d (Ertmer, Newby and Merrill, 2013 p.49). As the volume of content expands, and the technology revolution perennially provides new means of consuming said content, constructivist learners are well positioned to be able to synthesise the media they are inundated with, and through\"Image\u00a0a process of social negotiation (which likewise is increasingly influenced by technology, especially social media) derive meaning and apply it to real world contexts.<\/p>\n

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For example: students looking at the causes of World War I may identify the cause of the war as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the pre-existing alliances, an arms race and nationalistic fervour. A cognitivist learner would have information chunked and presented in manageable amounts, a move up the cognitive hierarchical pyramid in delivering content will trigger particular responses, but according to (Ertmer, Newby and Merrill, 2013), the learner must believe that the knowledge is useful in a given situation before he or she will activate it. So, a cognitive learner studying the causes of World War I, may come to understand the root causes on a higher level, they may not be as successful in applying the knowledge learned to other contexts if they do not find the knowledge to be particularly useful. The authors go on to state that constructivist theory focusses on the process of acquiring knowledge, rather than the understanding and interpreting content and would utilise practical teaching methods to apply these skills. (2013). It is no accident then that recent curriculum redesign in Canada has a strong emphasis on constructivist learning theory. In the New BC Curriculum, in the process of being rolled out across the province and around the world in offshore schools, subject curricula are guided by three or four \u201cbig ideas\u201d, and the chief instructional guidelines are based on the development of skills, rather than content knowledge. Content knowledge still features, but the focus is more on teaching adolescent learners how to construct meaning from the content on their own through the application of various skills and processes (BC Ministry of Education, 2017). Returning to the World War I example, a constructivist learner would be able through applying various historical thinking skills, and core competencies would be better able to parallels in the start of the Great War, and more modern conflicts since the curriculum is focussed on teaching them skills to interpret content and socially construct meaning their own way.<\/p>\n

Many learning theories feature: activation of prior experience, demonstration of skills, application of skills, and the integration of these skills into real-world activities. In addition, learning is most effective and meaningful when it has real world problem solving consequence. The higher the level of realism, the more constructive the learning (Merrill, 2002). In my own experience as a secondary class educator, I can attest to the effectiveness of concrete real world learning activities that are hands on, and skills focussed. Students tune out and stress out about content driven multiple choice tests, but thrive in a real time debate of a significant social issue. These learners thrive when they are able to show their learning in creative ways that have meaning to them. According to Merrill (2013), both the acquisition and portrayal of information is conveyed in a manner where the knowledge of learning is able to be shown. Constructivist learning promotes this in the processes of both teacher and learner, in that the teacher uses concrete examples tailored to specific learners, and learners demonstrate their knowledge with similarly concrete representations of their learning often involving choices in medium that are not as readily affordable within the scope of cognitive or behavioural learning theory.<\/p>\n

References
\nBC Ministry of Education. (2017). BC\u2019s redesigned Curriculum: An orientation Guide. Retrieved from: https:\/\/curriculum.gov.bc.ca\/sites\/curriculum.gov.bc.ca\/files\/Curriculum_Brochure.pdf
\nErtmer, P., & Newby, T. (2013). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71. Retrieved from: https:\/\/doi:10.1111\/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605.x
\nMerrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59. Retrieved from: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/BF02505022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a secondary school teacher. Facilitating learning is what I am paid to do. All of the various theories advocated by these two articles affect me in some regard. In the 21st century, the sheer volume of consumable content is constantly expanding at an exponential rate. As such, constructivist learning theory, whose goal of … Continue reading Constructivist Learning Theory as the way Forward for 21st Century Learning<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt523","tag-rrumalat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions\/475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}