Constructing Continued Comprehension Through Constructivism

Technology is becoming so increasingly ingrained in our society. As it continues to develop and spread to the masses, new ways of teaching, presenting knowledge, and learning are becoming available. Forms of simulation, manipulation, and individualization are as accessible thanks to the advancements of algorithms and software easily available in the classroom. The environment that we can achieve from this is one that allows the practice of constructivism to really ingrain itself and flourish. Instead of only using our technology to replace mediums of displaying information, these powerful and intuitive machines allow us to continually innovate and make it possible to bring our ambitions to life.

Constructivism theorizes that people are actively learning through assimilation to build their understanding through either creating new schema or fitting information into existing schema. Student engagement can grow thanks to constructivist practices, unlike traditional learning methods which are more passive and detached. This often takes the form of linear lectures, where every student is given the information in the same way and is given the same assignment to work on all at the same time. As Richard Culatta (TEDxTalk, 2013) highlighted in his Ted Talk, some students will be confident in the material after their first introduction, while others still have little or no understanding after the unit, causing them to fall further behind as new information continues building on the old.

By using technology to implement constructivism, students have more capacity to develop understanding at their own pace, limiting the restrictions based on their background knowledge and understanding. In that regard, a student who has more background knowledge on a subject can be assumed to have more experience to base their judgments on and use that to apply towards their current learning. Conversely, a student with no background knowledge on a subject has to start entirely from scratch. They don’t have the prior exposure to connect to their learning, which can make it more difficult to work at the same pace as the students who do. If these two were placed in our constructivist classroom, they would both be able to advance themselves without being hindered by the other. The student more advanced with the subject can continue to progress, while the other student has the time to develop the understanding they need to be successful.

Opening up a current classroom to the practice of constructivism can be an intimidating thought. For many of us, trying to keep pace with a single timeline can be challenging, let alone the multiple timelines that may be present as students advance on their own. It can be difficult to schedule and wrap your mind around timing to make sure everyone is getting enough support. I would definitely be willing to try this in my own practice, however. In mathematics, everything we do continues to build, grow, and evolve throughout the year, making it very difficult for some students who are behind conceptually or have a more difficult time grasping the concepts. By implementing more of a constructivist approach, I believe that I would see students being self-motivated to better themselves and work harder to understand the content instead of feeling overwhelmed and giving up.

Adapting our classrooms to accommodate a constructivist practice is the future of learning. Even though the prospect of it may be daunting, it is up to us as educators to do our best to set our students up for success. We are past the days of traditional teaching and are continuing to move forward and innovate as new tools and technologies are being created. If the world around us is continuing to evolve, shouldn’t we?

References:

OpenAI. (2021). GPT-3 Language Model [Computer software]. Retrieved July 16, 2023 from https://openai.com/api/

TEDxTalk. (2013, January 10). Reimagining learning: Richard Culatta at TEDx Beacon Street [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0uAuonMXrg&feature=emb_logo

Wix. Building with Legos [Photograph]. Wix.