Constructive learning involves students actively making sense of new experiences with the guidance of teachers. It begins when students are confused by a phenomenon and try to understand it with teacher help. Active learning describes our experiences learning about our environment through seeking unknown information independently. Authentic learning connects classroom lessons to solving real-life problems to increase student interest and career preparation. Cooperative learning involves students working in groups to achieve shared goals, with individual evaluations, allowing them to benefit from each other's strengths. Intentional learning sets goals to encourage harder work as students are motivated to achieve them.

1. Constructive learning:
Definition: Constructive learning can be defined as an active process of creating meaning from
different experiences. It will begin to appear when any phenomenon or stuff happens to confuse
students. Then students will be trying to make sense of these puzzles with the teachers’ guide or
help. In this way, Constructive learning greatly benefits students learning.
Explain: In my words, constructive learning can be described as several steps. Firstly, a student
shows interest in a phenomenon. Secondly, because a student cannot make sense or explain
about this phenomenon, he comes up with some questions which cause him confused. Thirdly,
the student will try to seek for answers for these questions. Finally, the confusions are solved and
the student gain new knowledge or making sense about new experiences. What is more,
teachers are necessary in this process. However, it doesn’t mean teachers would teach
everything to students. They should act as guide to offer enough help or knowledge for student
to work on. Besides, the best way of teaching in my thought is to make students feel their own
curiosity or thirst for knowledge and to try to make sense about their confusions.
Example: In some science classes, students would learn some facts or phenomenon about
nature. And they also need to take several labs or experiments. In Chinese schools, teachers tend
to teach students everything, just like all the definitions, formulas, or even the results about
experiments in their classes. Then student are asked to let students to go through labs or
experiments quickly. In this way, students just remember some words or sentences for exams,
and I don’t believe they could learn a lot. However, in American classes, teachers would like to
pay more attentions to labs or experiments. Besides, the content about labs is always depended
on lectures but beyond them. In this way, students are provided more space for thinking and
designing. What is more, in experiments, there is always a director who is ready to guide students.
In my opinion, this could be one of the best way for both gaining knowledge and learning the
method for research.
Active learning
Definition: Active learning can be described as our experiences about learning about or adapting
our environment only by ourselves. In other words, it is just like the process of seeking the
unknown world, during which we try to make sense about mystery and have progress from
operation, observation of results and analyzing the whole process.
Explain: In my opinion, active learning is pretty close to human nature. No matter from ancient
time to nowadays, seeking mystery is always the method for making great progress in society.
Moreover, in the classrooms today, active learning is the source of learning power for students.
Because the knowledge which can be learnt from teachers is limited. Besides, good teachers
should guide students to find their own ways for learning. So students would build their ways for
gaining new knowledge or making sense of unknown stuff. In this way students know how to face
mystery and make progress in their study career.
Example: In almost every Northern State University undergraduate programs, students are asked
to register at least two science classes with labs. Some students dislike that, especially those who

2. have art major like history or economic. However, I believe the science classes with labs are really
significant for every student. Because they could help students training their ability of active
learning. Actually, during labs, instructors would offer students several issues as well as stuff for
experiments. Then they begin to act as supporters rather than lecturers in the labs. Students
should carry on experiments, observe the whole process, record, analyze the results, and draw
conclusions to figure out those issues all by themselves. In my words, science labs can greatly
increase students’ ability of active learning.
Authentic learning:
Definition: Quite different from other kinds of meaningful learning, authentic learning is pretty
close to learning from real life. Rather than traditional methods of learning like lecture in
classroom, or experiments in labs, authentic learning focused on connecting what we learnt from
classes to how to figure out issues or problems in real life. In this way, students could show more
interest in learning, as well as being better prepared for future career.
Explain: In my opinion, authentic learning is pretty significant for students. By authentic learning,
students can get to know, how they could apply the knowledge which they learnt in schools into
real life. In other words, students especially college students will benefit from authentic learning
which would turn knowledge to useful skills for their career. Actually, in study life, students are
easy to be confused about a question if what I learnt really useful in the future. However,
authentic learning could provide students bridge between classes and living skills. After realizing
the importance and need of school’s classes, students tent to show more interest in learning.
Example: I used to take a psychology class in China. When the class came to a chapter about
communication, our teacher raised a task for us. We are required to come to Xidan (parts of
downtown of Beijing) on one Saturday. In addition, we all didn’t know any other details about the
task. On the task day, after getting together, our teacher asked us to hand in all of our personal
stuff (wallet, backpack, watch, cell phone and so on). Then we should stay in Xidan for a whole
day, and we should try to find methods for lunch and supper. During this day, most students
found part time jobs to pay for their meals, and several students gain profit by performance like
singing or Chinese talk show in public. And what is the most amazing should be a guy who just
went in to a sports bar, and became friends with lots of young people by enjoying a NBA game
together. Then these basketball funs treated him lunch and supper. This task really trained us
how to communicate with others. I believe it is much better than just study from textbook in
classroom.
Cooperative Learning:
Definition: The function of cooperative learning is to make students form a group and work
together to achieve the same goal or finish the same task. Because everyone has his own
specialty, so everyone can work in the field which they are good at. In other words, all the group
members could benefit each other at the same time. What is more, every group member should
be evaluated individually depending on their effort. Finally, students can make more achievement
by good cooperative than individual study.

3. Explain: Actually, cooperative learning is becoming more and more popular in nowadays
education. Compared with individual study, cooperative learning has more benefits for students.
They can complete many complex tasks easily. And in my words, it is not only a good way for
finish projects, but also a better method for learning knowledge. However, personally, I believe
cooperative learning should be completed beyond the control of instructors. Fairness is one of
the most significant things among cooperative learning. So everyone should be evaluated
according their work or effort.
Example: In Chinese universities, study group is becoming more and more popular. This kind of
group is mainly for students who would take the same exams in the future. Exams could be TOEFL,
GRE, Chinese College Graduate School Entrance Exam and so on. Especially, the Chinese College
Graduate School Entrance Exam which is only once every year, it is particularly significant for
students. What is more, this exam will cover about everything we learnt in college, so there
would be plenty of knowledge for us to understand and remember. Normally a student would like
to prepare the exam himself. However, in this way, he is easy to feel confused, boring, tired or
even hopeless and become lazy and give up the exam. In this situation, some students tend to
form groups to try to be better prepared for the exam. They decide their study plan
together, which covers everything about the preparing exam like time for get up, content for
everyday, lunch and break time, certain goals for different period and so on. In this way, everyone
in the group can supervise each other to keep busy rather than stay lazy to carry on their study
plan. Then they will discuss about problems they meet in study. What is more important is that
every student in group has his own specialize subject, they can benefit each other. Last but not
the least, when someone feel upset, other can encourage him to keep going rather than give up.
Intentional learning:
Definition: In an intentional learning environment, students work harder for achieving some
certain goals which could be set by themselves, teachers or parents. This kind of goal setting
situation could encourage students to becoming hard working, and more willing to study. In other
words, to achieve goals, students tend to devote more in learning naturally.
Explain: In my words, the most powerful productive force for students is deadline, and what is in
the second place is goals as known as Intentional learning. According to my students experiences,
students with goals are always more motivated in studying the ones without. This condition can
be described as goals make students more active or interested in learning. Moreover, goals can
also be considered as kinds of prize for students. And the process of achieving goals satisfies the
sense of achievement of students.
Example: There is a common phenomenon in Chinese education. A student can always be
thought as a talent since he was in kindergarten. Besides, he could be one of the best students all
the time in primary school, middle school and high school. However, he finally became a
mediocrity in college. Some of them even cannot succeed in graduating from college. In my
opinion, the reason for this phenomenon is that, these students lost their goals in universities.
There is a traditional or common idea in China that high level education can help ones find better

4. jobs and make more money. So entering a top level university is the goal set by families for many
Chinese young students. Although families or parents cannot force their children to really accept
this goal, they still find an interesting method for that. In nowadays Chinese society, universities
or colleges are described as heaven for young students. People say that colleges are of freedom,
students can play video games free, hang out with girls free, smoke free, drink beers free and
even free from studying. It is partly wrong. But somehow, it becomes students’ goal and attracts
them to work hard. However, after becoming a top college student, they already achieved goal
and have no new ones. So they relax and do not work so hard.