The Learning Sciences
and Constructivism
Cluster 9
Modules 24 – 26
Educational Psychology, ALE, 11th Edition
ISBN 0137144547
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Focus Questions
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What are the assumptions of the learning sciences?
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What are three constructivist perspectives on learning?
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How could you incorporate inquiry, problem-based
learning, cooperative learning, and cognitive
apprenticeships in your teaching?
What dilemmas do constructivist teachers face?
How can service learning encourage student engagement
and academic learning?
How can technology rich learning environments scaffold
student learning and motivation?
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Overview of Cluster 9
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The Learning Sciences
Cognitive and Social Constructivism
Applying Constructivist Perspectives
Service Learning
Learning in a Digital World
Diversity and Convergences
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What would you do?

Review “What would you do?” on p. 369
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How would you adapt your lesson plans for this
group?
What will you do tomorrow?
What teaching approaches do you think will work
with this class?
How will you work with the three students who
are more advanced and the students who are just
learning English?
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The Learning Sciences
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What are the learning sciences?
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Fields that study learning:
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Psychology
Anthropology
Sociology
Computer science
Neuroscience
Philosophy
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The Learning Sciences
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Basic Assumptions:
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Experts have deep conceptual knowledge.
Learning comes from the learner.
Schools must create effective learning
environments.
Prior knowledge is key.
Reflection is necessary to develop deep
conceptual knowledge.
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The Learning Sciences
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Neuroscience
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Learning leads to changes in brain
structure and function.
Type of instruction can influence the
part of the brain used by an activity.
Scientists can follow brain activity during
stimulation using an fMRI.
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MRI
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The original Magnetic Resonance Image
(MRI) could provide only limited
information about physiological changes in
the brain.
A PET (positron emission
tomography) scan provides more
information than an MRI.
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Neuroscience: Implications
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Different parts of the brain are
activated by different activities.
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Children may develop preferences for learning
(visual or verbal).
Enriched environments can help develop new
pathways and stimulate a variety of areas in the
brain.
Some learning disorders may be neurologic; neuro
testing may provide some clues about how to
teach students with learning disorders.
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Constructivism
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Two central ideas of constructivism:
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Learners are active in constructing their
own knowledge.
Social interactions are important in this
knowledge construction process.
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Constructivism
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The learner is key to the knowledge-building
process (active construction vs. passive
reception)
How do Piagetian and Vygotskian models fit
with constructivism?
How can we be certain learners construct the
‘right’ information and arrive at the ‘correct’
conclusions?
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Cognitive and Social Constructivism
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Cognitive constructivism:
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Individuals build develop cognitive and
emotional functionality.
Social constructivism:
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Social environs, cultural tools and other
group-based phenomena impact the
cognitive and emotional functionality.
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Constructionism
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Social Constructionism:
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Concerned with ways social information
is passed on through cultural
mechanisms.
Suggests things only acquire meaning
based upon cultural context.
Questions what education should
include, and ways information may be
culturally biased.
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Knowledge Construction
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Three explanations:
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Truth is in the external world.
Internal processes dictate knowledge.
Both the external world and internal
processes dictate knowledge construction.
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Constructed Knowledge
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Is knowledge internal, general and
transferable (e.g. absolute) or limited to
value only in the context in which it is
constructed?
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Constructed Knowledge
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Community of Practice
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Social context in which ideas are useful and
true
Situated Learning
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Skills and knowledge are tied to the situation in
which they were learned and non-transferable
(or at least not easily transferable)
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Constructivist Teaching
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Five recommendations:
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Embed learning in complex environments.
Provide social negotiation and shared
responsibility for learning.
Support multiple perspectives of content.
Nurture self-awareness and an understanding that
knowledge is constructed.
Encourage ownership in learning.
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Constructivist Teaching
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Complex learning environments and authentic
tasks.
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Problems should not be simplified for learning purposes.
Not all answers in nature are self-evident or simple; they
should not be made simple for classroom purposes.
Where possible, students should solve problems that
occur in reality and nature.
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Constructivist Teaching

Social negotiation
 Collaborate with more experienced
experts.
 Articulate and defend problem solving
strategies.
 Build shared meaning among members of
a group.
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Constructivist Teaching

Multiple Representations of Content
 Helps develop a thorough understanding
of content and its complexity
 Provides a variety of ways of looking at
problems and information
 Enables refining of understanding
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Constructivist Teaching
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Inquiry-Based Learning
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Follow a scientific procedure to find an
answer to a problem.
Problem-Based Learning
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Students identify a problem and seek to
solve it given the restrictions of the
classroom and resources.
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Constructivist Teaching

Cognitive Apprenticeship
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Students work with an expert to learn the
skills and approaches experts use.
Helps students develop a thorough
understanding of ways to think about and
approach tasks.
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Constructivist Teaching
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Reciprocal Teaching
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Students teach each other and critique each
others’ understanding of new material
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Social Processes in Learning
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Influences on Students
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Peers
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According to Steinberg …
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About 40% of students are not engaged learners
About 90% of students have copied someone else’s
homework
About 66% of students have cheated on a test
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Social Processes in Learning
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Influences on Students
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Students DO NOT want to be considered “too smart”
Children tend to select like-minded peers as friends in
elementary school
There appear to exist cultural differences in value of
learning (or there are differences in the ways in which
value is expressed …)
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Social Processes in Learning
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Influences on Students (cont.)
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Parents and Teachers
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Play a significant role in the absence of
peers
Involved parents play a role in students’
desire to avoid high-risk behavior and
Parents and teachers who are supportive
often have students who are more
motivated to learn
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Collaboration & Cooperation
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Students learn more than just what’s in the
curricula!

Collaboration: philosophy about how to deal with people
that respects differences, shares authority and develops
everyone’s knowledge
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Collaboration & Cooperation
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Cooperation: working together towards a common
goal
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Cooperative learning: mixed-ability groups of
students collaborate and are rewarded based upon
collective achievement
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Collaboration & Cooperation
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Common problems with cooperative
learning
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Process over Purpose
Group Think
Socializing over Problem-Solving
Dependency on “brain” in group
Social Loafing
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Collaboration & Cooperation
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Tasks to provide cooperative groups
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Highly structured tasks
Ill-structured tasks
Social skills and communication tasks
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Collaboration & Cooperation
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Grouping for Success
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Groups should include 4-6 students
Everyone should be assigned a role (by
group or teacher)
Everyone should give and receive
explanations
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Types of Cooperation
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Reciprocal questioning
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Scripted cooperation
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Students ask and answer each others’ questions after expert
(teacher or other) presents a lesson
See Table 25.6 on p. 399
Students pair to summarize material and critique each
others’ summaries
Jigsaw
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Students each receive a piece of a “puzzle” to interpret and
then teach everyone else in the group
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Classroom Community
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Three C’s of Safe Communities
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Example Conflict
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Peer harassment
Example Solution
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Cooperative community, constructive conflict
resolution, civic values
Peer mediation
Civic Values
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How should students relate to others in their
communities? What are their rights?
Responsibilities?
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Service Learning
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Key Attributes:
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Organized to meet actual community
needs
Integrated into curriculum
Apply newly learned skills and knowledge
Enhance academic learning and create
sense of caring for others
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Service Learning

Service learning is the combination of
academic learning with personal and
social development.
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Can provide students opportunities to give
back to their communities and understand
what it means to fulfill civic duty.
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Learning in a Digital World

Many new technologies are part of
students’ everyday lives and can be
used in learning settings.
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Television – about 99% of families have
them and about 36% of children have
them in their bedrooms.
Computers – 86% of children 8-18 have
them in their homes; 30% have used one
before age 6.
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Learning in a Digital World
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Digital Divide
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Home computers appear to be positively
correlated with math and science
achievement.
Students who have computer experience
tend to come from higher SES
backgrounds.
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Learning in a Digital World

Digital Literacy
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New technologies emerge quickly and are
often adopted very quickly.
Students should be taught how to find
and consume digital media.
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Diversity

Constructivism expects diversity; it
accounts for individual differences in
knowledge construction
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Convergences





Experts have deep conceptual knowledge.
Learning comes form the learner.
Schools must create effective learning
environments.
Prior knowledge is key.
Reflection is necessary to develop conceptual
knowledge.
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Summary


Constructivism centers on social learning and active
construction of knowledge as opposed to passive
reception of information.
Information is only given meaning by those who
interpret and experience it.
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Summary


Information can thus have differing meanings for
various people
Teaching through a constructivist paradigm
challenges teachers to present information in such
a way that students are able to progress in
foundational knowledge while also developing their
own conceptualizations of the world
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