Constructivism

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**Constructivism** is a psychological model which characterizes learning as a process of actively constructing knowledge. There are two main camps of constructivism, focusing on either the individual or their social context. However, both theories have many commonalities. The constructivist environment is complex and involves a certain component of social negotiation and shared responsibility. Conceptual understanding is built as the material is represented in multiple ways. Perhaps most importantly, the student takes ownership of their learning and drives their development to a degree of understanding higher then simple factual learning. ======

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The first focus of constructivism is on the individual. When looking at **individual constructivism**, it is the work of the individual and their own personal experiences that generate understanding. It was the work of Piaget that helped to explain the cognitive development of the individual. He proposed four developmental stages, with a focus on the process of equilibration. When a new experience does not fit the existing schema of a person’s understanding, then there is a disequilibrium in their mind that will not be resolved until the information is assimilated or accommodated. ======

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**Social cognitivism** focuses on the experiences that an individual can bring to a group. This theory of cognitive development was developed by Vygotsky, and looks towards the social interactions of people to drive learning and development. He looks at the individual’s Zone of Proximal Development to be the key of a person’s cognitive advancement. The interactions that people have between their more advanced peers and people that are older and wiser help the individual shape their understanding. ======

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Both of these two areas of constructivism allow individuals to take the experiences that they have and organize them within their mind. They are able to make sense of new information by working through their own thoughts and understandings. Constructivism as an approach to learning became a popular option in the 1970s and 1980s in comparison to just memorization of information. This idea of knowledge construction through peer interaction began to make the teachers more of facilitators then “dispensers of information.” ======

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The **triadic reciprocality of social theory** is a model of causality for students in the learning process. Self-efficacy, which students develop from past performance, modeling, verbal persuasion, and physiological states, as well as self-regulation are personality traits of an individual which affect their learning experiences. Rewards and punishment from others constitute the basis of environmental factors. Parents, media and other members of the community also contribute to a learning environment. Behavioral factors include what learning an individual chooses to engage in and how they apply themselves in the endeavor. A key element of social theory involves observational learning, a process that involves both models and the observer. Characteristics that insure that the imitator will repeat the behavior are: if the imitator pays attention to the model, retention of the model's behavior, imitator must be able to reproduce the behavior, and the imitator must be motivated to perform the behavior. For this to occur, the model must be relevant to the imitator, must be competent and must be placed high in the observers mind. ======

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Using constructivists approaches in the classroom, many argue, help children understand the material on a deeper level because arriving at conclusions requires higher order thinking skills. These approaches can include classroom or technology based discussions, peer tutoring, problem and project based learning, as well as many more. Using these methods, teacher can help to guide students to reach understandings about new topics. ======