2. Menu
What Is It?
Key Figures
Use in the Classroom
Practical Applications In My Classroom
3. What Is It?
A theory that states students learn by doing
Theorists believe children are intrinsically motivated
to learn
Requires active student participation
Students will form/construct their own
understanding
4. What Is It?
Learners base new information on past knowledge
Students learn through many different activities
Involves higher order thinking skills
Employs collaborative learning
5. Key Figures
4 main theorists: Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Lev
Vygotsky, and John Dewey
Piaget is the most influential figure
All believed that learning requires active learner
participation
6. Jean Piaget
Swiss psychologist
Children learn by seeking to find meaning in the
world around them
Students learn by building off what they already
know
Construct new meaning based on prior knowledge
Proposed 4 stages children pass through:
Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational,
and Formal Operational
7. Jean Piaget
Sensorimotor (birth-2 years): Learning through
senses and motor actions
Preoperational (2-6 years): Begin to use symbols
and images
Concrete Operational (7-11 years): Logical thinking
begins; learning through facts
Formal Operational (12-adulthood): Concrete
thinking to acstract thinking
8. Jerome Bruner
American Psychologist
Believed learning is constructed based on past
knowledge
Technology is key in offering proper learning
environment
Employed Socratic method for student analysis of
problems
9. Lev Vygotsky
Russian educational psychologist
Added ideas of social cognition to Constructivism
Social cognition is learning influenced by social
development
Zone of proximal development: potential a child can
achieve with assistance
Emphasized collaborative learning
10. John Dewey
American educational psychologist and philosopher
Learning should engage and expand the experience
of learners
Believed education was a social process
Students should play an active role in school
11. Use in the Classroom
Teachers/instructors must become “facilitators”
Facilitators allow students to work through new
material
Allow for students to construct their own
understanding
Learner plays an active role in their education
12. Use in the Classroom
Facilitators encourage conversations/discussions
instead of teacher lecture
Help students with zone of proximal development
Encourage collaborative learning
13. Practical Applications In My Classroom
Important to create an atmosphere with hands-on
activities
Provide multiple methods of presenting material
Use technology as a strategy to assist constructivist
learning
Create an emotional connection with material for
students
14. Practical Applications In My Classroom
Allow students to come to answers on their own
True understanding is when students can do
something without assistance
Become a facilitator and not just a teacher