Practical Social Constructivism

I have a young learner in my class this year who has taught me a lot about constructivism and socially constructed understanding. He was introduced to me as a hyper-active student with severe language delays and concentration difficulties.
Firstly, I noticed that he had not yet developed his ability to self-talk. That little voice inside our heads that tells us not to speak too loudly to our neighbor in the cinema, or, in this boy's case not to make animal noises every few seconds during circle time. Since self-talk is a crucial part of constructing knowledge, I wondered whether he was finding it hard to build connections because of this deficit.
Soon we had him talking out the steps of each and every task and, before long, not only his vocabulary improved but also his ability to perform tasks independently. In the past, he had been addressed for his anti-social behavior on numerous occasions but stimuli-response behaviorism was having more of a negative effect.
His language development was holding him back from verbally interacting with other students. And his attention deficit was potentially eliminating any contributions he might have made if he were better able to follow the flow of the conversation. Nevertheless, with support, he was made to feel part of our class team. He was listened to and his peers (who were only 6) were amazingly patient and supportive in the way they not only included him but actually made sure he was fully understanding. The power of social constructivism was almost palpable.
Our young friend has made exceptional progress but so have his peers; having truly come to an understanding of their role as the More Knowledgeable Others (MKO).

Dr. Orey tells us the MKO can sometimes be a computer. He states that conversations help students concretize their learning and that these verbal interactions occur naturally when students are working together to construct an artifact. Multimedia technology supports the tenets of social constructivism in a myriad of ways. VoiceThread slideshows, for example, allow students to verbalize their thought process through a combination of visual and audio recordings. "Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face-to-face" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). There exists a wealth of websites and technology tools which allow the learning to go far beyond the classroom. Perhaps the most exciting, yet challenging, role of technology as an instrument of social constructivist learning is its global application. "(T)here are many examples of Websites that facilitate correspondence and project-based learning between students and other communities" (Pitler et al., 2007).

Knowledge is being shared, critiqued, revised, constructed in ways we never thought possible 20 years ago. As Siemens puts it information abundance may well be reshaping education.

Cognitive Tools for Learning

When cognitive theorists first hinted at the complexity of human learning, the best they could do was hypothesize. In their own words, the mental processes to which they referred were undetectable through mere observation. In more recent times however brain imaging technology and research is beginning to open up that closed world of brain function. It is forcing us to re-evaluate what we believe to be true about the operation of this fascinating organ.

Cognitive Learning Theory suggests that humans learn by sensory inputs entering the short term memory. From here the most important data is scrutinized more deeply by the working memory and rehearsed in order to pass into the long term memory. "Cognitive information processing is not the name of a single theory; it is a generic name applied to theoretical perspectives dealing with the sequence and execution of cognitive events." (Laureate Education, Inc, 2008.).

Keeping it clear
Essentially, keeping information manageable and concise adds to our ability to attend to it. Thus strategies such as advance organizers, summarizing and note taking assist us in focusing on what is important. "Note taking is similar to summarizing in that it enhances students' ability to organize information in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details, helping students to process information." (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn And Malenoski, 2007.).

Connect the dots
Using spreadsheet rubrics (as an example of an advance organizer) provides a graphical representation of how knowledge is connected. Paivio's dual coding hypothesis and elaboration are instrumental in ensuring that information is not only stored but also more easily and effectively retrieved from the long term memory. Cueing and questioning are effective techniques for firing up previous learning experiences. Good questioning can trigger the recall of previously stored schema and provide opportunities for attaching the new learning to this previous understanding. "Questions perform the same function as cues by triggering students' memories and helping them access prior knowledge." (Pitler, et al, 2007.).

Tying it all together
Combining the use of advance organizers with effective, essential questioning can offer an ieven more powerful classroom instructional technique. Quality essential questions "... require the student to make a decision or create a plan" (Pitler, et al, 2007.) leading to deeper levels of critical thinking, such as problem solving.
Multimedia software, such as Powerpoint, allows students to present notes and summaries in a variety of formats: lists, tables, graphics and words. As technology advances, we begin to see an increasing number of cognitive tools which not only target the important elements of dual coding and elaboration but also extend the capacities and capabilities of the short term memory.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Learning Theories and Instruction. Boston: Pearson.

Pitler. H., Hubbell. E., Kuhn. M., and Malenoski. K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Related articles

• What you do affects what you learn (psychologytoday.com)

p21.org insights

The layout and organization of the website was not one that I favor. For my personal learning style, the pages were too wordy and the whole site was hard to navigate. It wasn’t clear to me the main purpose or the target audience. My strongest criticism was the difficulty I experienced at separating advertising from scholarly writing. The majority of articles I found were aimed at State Leaders and therefore not altogether useful to me as a teacher.

This graphic helped me see how all the elements of 21^st century learning fit together. It was pleasing to note that 21 century learning is not all about the technology and that the core subjects of Literacy and Numeracy are still central.

I appreciated the link to Route 21 which gives you the opportunity to share your own resources and expertise, as well as a more detailed breakdown of the components of the 21 Century Learning Framework.

“Virtual Schools and 21^st Century Skills” by The North American Council for Online Learning and the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills. (November 2006).

“Eighty-four percent of employers say K-12 schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for the workplace; 55 percent say schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills (such as attendance, timeliness and work ethic); 51 percent cite math andscience deficiencies; and 38 percent cite reading and comprehension deficiencies."

I disagree with the 55% of employers who imply that schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills. Whilst I am not arguing that attendance, punctuality and positive work ethics may be lacking, I would argue that it is not entirely the school’s failing. Lack of work ethic and absenteeism is prevalent amongst the adults in my workplace and the teachers for whom this is true range from 20 to 60 years. I can scarcely believe that they had similar schooling and, even if they did, then so did those of us who are extremely committed to their profession.

The implications for effective 21 century learning is that conventional teaching methods alone will no longer suffice. As such, everything from philosophy, through pedagogy and curriculum to class room environments and teaching-learning practices need to be reviewed and, in some case, dramatically improved.

As contemporary educators, we must learn to emulate this philosophy and commit to the implementation of the new framework. School timetables, calendars and meeting times need to provide opportunities for collaboration and a less top-down hierarchy with regards to policy and decision making can assist in this.

The implications for the students are the increased expectations on engagement and participation. There is no room for students who sit passively by waiting to be “fed” information. Sorting, organizing and staying up-to-date with credible and reliable sources of information will present a new set of challenges for these 21^st Century Learners. Timely preparation and the dynamics of working with others may not come naturally. Personally, I think something we often forget is how essential quality literacy skills will be. In a world full of shared information, crucial dispositions will include the ability to skim read quickly and effectively; understand and manipulate words at deeper levels; communicate critical thinking and complex understandings effectively to native and non-native English speakers. Above all else the next generation will need to be adaptable and creative.

Related articles

• Re-Inventing The Learning Process: Really? (coopcatalyst.wordpress.com)