Constructivism and autonomous learning.

 

“If you tell somebody something, you've forever robbed them of the opportunity to discover it for themselves.” ― Curt Gabrielson

Every week that we are passing through we are learning new techniques, strategies, apps, and programs that lead us to one path which is constructivist theory. We have dealt the last semester a lot through this theory and we know very well that is a crucial part of our profession as future teachers.

Firstly, here is a reminder of what is this theory about and who brought this up and delighted the art of teaching.

• The constructivist theory is based on the idea that learners are active participants in their learning journey; knowledge is constructed based on experiences. As events occur, each person reflects on their experience and incorporates the new ideas with their prior knowledge. Learners develop schemas to organize acquired knowledge. This model was entrenched in learning theories by Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Gagne, and Bruner.
• I admire the concept of constructivist learning because it opposites very well the traditional classes we had before and highlights the best ways to ameliorate the quality of teaching day by day. Being an active participant in the learning journey is the best thing a pupil-student could have.

The processes involved in the construction of learning would be the following:

• Assimilation: it is the internalization of the information or event to a pre-existing cognitive structure with the aim of deciphering it using knowledge obtained from previous but related experiences. Assimilation is the understanding of the new event by relating it to one's own cognitive structure.
• Accommodation: the incorporation of new knowledge into the cognitive structure, through the creation of a new knowledge scheme or by modifying a pre-existing scheme.

Constructivism learning defends that reality is not an external factor, but an internal one. In this way, two people can experience the same event and have different meanings for each of them. For example, for one person earning a lot of money may mean having a symptom of success, however for another person it may mean a symptom of greed, it all depends on your interpretation and previous experiences that relate to it.

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTIVISM

1. The individual builds knowledge by actively interacting with the object of study
2. Learning is facilitated thanks to mediation, interaction, and negotiation with others
3. Learning is an internal constructive process that feeds itself on new data and experiences.
4. The degree of learning depends on the level of general cognitive development
5. New knowledge acquires meaning when it is related to previous knowledge and experiences.
6. Previous knowledge is the starting point of all learning and will be key in its future
7. Learning occurs when what the individual already knows conflicts with what he or she should know.
8. The social and cultural context of the person influences the construction of the meaning of this learning

Thank you for reading my blog!

See you next week!