A Social Constructivist Learning Approach

The first thing that caught my eye in Sara Bradshaw's article was when she talked about the "Chalk and Talk Method " as it was kind of a trip down memory lane . Back in my school days I personally remember this method as most of my childhod teachers used it and i totally agree with Sara when saying it was boring and it becomes very hard to stay engaged with the subject. It does not appeal to students at all because of this. As she explained further into her article she said "Many refine the art of obtaining good grades by memorisation without actually understanding the subject matter".Again I was one of those students . Before tests and exams i would read and memorise all my notes i had taken off the board without really understanding anything about what I had written.

Further on into the article she wrote about the 5 key elements that define constructivist learning environments:

• Personal constructions of reality
• Stimulated authentic learning environments
• Multiple representations of data
• Active learning
• Collaboration

All 5 elements however can be incorporated and linked into using todays technology.I believe that by using a computer or even a smart board can accomplish all 5 of those key elements.

Doolittle (1999) said "The teachers job is to motivate, provide examples, discuss, facilitate, support and challenge, but not to attempt to act as a knowledge conduit".With this statement i agree with Doolittle when he says we have to motivate , provide examples and to challenge the students etc , etc . However I do feel that we may sometimes have to act as a knowledge conduit to help us support and challenge our students.

Doolittle then continued on by saying "I believe many teachers would find this transformation dificult as there is a false belief that this kind of teaching and learning encourages loss of control".Personally with this change in teaching i would find the transition o.k.I also believe that it does not encourage the teachers position as a loss of control, i think it al depends on the way you manage it and put it to practise.