Constructivism and E-Learning Final Assignment

Constructivism and E-Learning Final Assignment

Assignment 3

ETEC 530 66A

Professor: Diane Janes

Amanda Gill and Nicole Moxey

August 17, 2018

CONSTRUCTIVISM AND E-LEARNING 2

Part A:

“Cognitive constructivism is a theory that describes learning as taking new ideas or experiences
and fitting them into a complex system that includes the learner’s entire prior learning” (Hartle,
Baviskar & Whitney, 2009, p. 31). In other words, constructivism occurs when students
construct and build their own knowledge based on exploration and engaging activities. A
constructivist teacher provides a “hands-on” experience for their students and the learning is
discovery based. An educator would take on more of a facilitator role and would allow students
to learn through inquiry-based learning, and through exploration and discovery, students will
gain and make sense of new information through this process. Students are encouraged to take
ownership of their individual learning and teachers need to provide differentiated instruction to
help the learner reach their maximum potential. ​Pritchard (2014) argues, “we care about
knowledge because knowledge is crucial to a worthwhile, valuable life” (p.188).​ ​Through the
inquiry process, students will reflect on their learning, take time to synthesize information and
therefore gain knowledge.​ ​Hartle et. al. (2009) suggest, “​[w]hen observing a lesson to identify
signs of constructivism, look for opening activities that emotionally and cognitively engage
students in the topic at hand. The activity should encourage them to think about what they
already know or to attempt to solve a problem in the relevant topic” (p. 32). By implementing
constructivism within the lesson, this creates a personalized learning approach targeting all
learning abilities within the classroom.

Eliciting Prior Knowledge:

#ElicitingPriorKnowledge ​#Scaffolding #Collaboration #Choice #Communication
Before students can begin learning new information and creating knowledge, the teacher needs to
provide various activities that allow the learner to access prior knowledge, including addressing
possible misconceptions. “​Eliciting prior knowledge refers to any activity that both describes the
students’ prior knowledge for the teacher and also focuses the students’ attention on those
aspects of their mental constructs to be modified by the subsequent lesson” (​Hartle et. al, 2009,
p. 32). Educators use this information to help focus their lessons based on the specific needs of
the students.

Scott, Asoko and Driver (1992), as cited in So's (2002) article state that,
Teaching creates demands on the teachers as they need to be sensitive to students'
learning difficulties; be patient through the process of students' construction of new
knowledge; take into account the students' existing knowledge; create a classroom
climate in which students are willing to express and discuss their ideas; create situations
in which students can present their own opinions; and, to accept a teaching role that is not
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so much that of a communicator and an examiner, but more as a person who advises and
helps students to develop knowledge.

Educators have to consider multiple factors, as mentioned by Scott et. al (1992), when creating
lesson plans to teach their class. With the recent changes to the British Columbia (B.C.)
curriculum and assessment practices, this plays a role in restructuring ideas of those being
trained. This newly reformed B.C. curriculum has moved away from specific Prescribed
Learning Outcomes that teachers must complete to a more inquiry-based learning approach. This
offers educators the flexibility to allow their students more opportunities to explore and inquire
based on their interests, which creates a personalized learning approach. It allows teachers to
create flexible learning environments to help accommodate all of the diverse learners. To allow
for deeper learning, the curriculum is focused on Core Competencies (Thinking, Communication
and Personal & Social) which creates engaging learning environments. By the Ministry of
Education redesigning the curriculum, this restructured the ways pre-service teaching programs
are being delivered and taught and how pre-service teachers are being trained (Building Student
Success- BC’s New Curriculum, 2017).

Creating Cognitive Dissonance:

#Collaboration #CognitiveDissonance #Questioning #Creativity #Choice
According to Leamnson and Zull (1999 and 2002), as cited in Hartle et. al (2009), [c]ognitive
dissonance is defined as “an emotional discomfort intended to motivate the physical effort
required for learning” ​(p. 33).​ Creating this dissonance requires the learner to ask questions and
investigate possible misconceptions through conversations and collaboration with peers. ​Another
important facet of constructivist teaching, as identified by Staarman, Krol, and Meijden (2005),
is that “teaching students how to elaborate or reason, for example by teaching ‘ground rules’ for
collaboration, can have a positive effect on peer interaction in collaborative activities” (p. 36).
When students collaborate and share ideas, this allows them to engage with others who may have
different viewpoints or opinions, and this can lead to higher level thinking (​Rahman, Yasin,
Jusoff, Yassin, Nordin, and Yusof, 2011, p. 491).

Application of Knowledge:
#Creativity #ApplicationOfKnowledge #Collaboration #Inquiry #Choice
#CriticalThinking#Exploration
Application of new knowledge tests and fine tunes the skills or knowledge that is being pursued
and requires the learner to see the topic or concepts multiple times and in a variety ways. This
process helps solidify and reinforce the learning. Students should be provided with many
opportunities to work collaboratively and cooperatively with their peers as this type of peer
interaction takes patience and time (Hartle et. al, 2009, ​p. 33)​. According to Reid and Valle
(2013), “students learn more through cooperation than through ​competition; problem-solving
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dialogue is more powerful than exercises.” Teachers should be moving away from full class
lectures, as well as worksheet based activities and assessments. ​Fosnot (2013) states,
“constructing an understanding requires that the students have opportunities to articulate their
ideas, to test those ideas through experimentation and conversation and to consider connections
between phenomena that they are examining and other aspects of their lives” (p. 64). Rather than
the teacher direct the questions, students should be given the opportunity to compare their
knowledge at the beginning of the lesson to what they have gained at the end of of the lesson in a
self-reflection type activity of their choice. An obstacle for many educators when planning
lessons and units is the lack of time. This seems to be the reason why many teachers continue to
provide these directed questions to the class rather than have students reflect upon their learning
experiences. When students complete the self-reflection activities this leads to powerful and
engaging student-led discussions, supported by teacher guidance and scaffolding.

Metacognition/Reflection:
#ReflectionOnLearning #Metacognition #Choice #TeacherFeedback #PeerFeedback
#DigitalPortfolios
The metacognition process is powerful as it allows students to reflect upon their learning and
understanding of materials and concepts. Metacognition is defined as “thinking about your own
thinking” (Hartle et. al, 2009, p. 32). Constructivism allows students to take responsibility for
their own learning and has a student-centered approach. It’s important to allow students to
explain their learning process using their own words. This could include having them explain
what they have done and why is it important (Hartle et. al, 2009, p. 34). The most important
aspect of this process “comes from the students’ peers or from the assignment itself. One of the
places where small group interactions are very effective is in providing timely and relevant
feedback” (Hartle et. al, 2009, p. 33). In most recent years, digital portfolios have provided a
venue for communicating student learning. The feedback from teachers is ongoing and
collaborative and this helps to support and foster growth in learning. This allows for many
learning opportunities and allows students to document their growth on an ongoing basis.

Conclusion:

A goal of constructivism is to find ways to reach all learners based on how the individual learns
best. Traditionally teachers were viewed as the experts, but now they take on more of a facilitator
role by scaffolding the learning, depending on the needs of the learners. They take into
consideration the age, interest and experiences of the learner and encourage communication
through open ended questioning and designing (Sheridan et. al, 2014, p. 519). According to
Wilson (2000), as cited in So (2002), “learning is not the goal in many classrooms… there is
pressure on teachers from the bulky curriculum, tight schedule, expectations of parents and
diversity of learners. More direct teaching strategies and text-book bound teaching seem to be an
CONSTRUCTIVISM AND E-LEARNING 5

easier way to go,” However, according to Fosnot (2013), a constructivist view of learning “gives
learners the opportunity for concrete, contextually meaningful experience through which they
can search for patterns; raise questions; and model, interpret, and defend their strategies and
ideas” (p. 9). In order for the learner to solidify their understanding, they must be able to make
connections and find the relevance of the skill in their daily lives. Von Glasersfeld (2008) states
that, “it appears that knowledge is not a transferable commodity and communication not a
conveyance” (p. 48). This means that students’ knowledge is gained by self-learning and through
experience. Students need to be in control of their own learning as this motivates and excites
them to learn more. Further, von Glasersfeld (2008) uses a paradox to discuss the gain of
knowledge when he states “to assess the truth of knowledge you would have to know what you
come to know before you come to know it” (p. 37). As teachers, we no longer directly transfer
information to our students, but rather have realized that knowledge is truly gained via
experiences, exploration and discovery. When students are immersed in a variety of experiences,
they are able to reflect, process and synthesize information and then grow as learners.
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Part B: Lesson Plan for Students

Topic​: Place Value for Grade Two

Time​: This is the third lesson (60 mins.) that is part of a unit that will span over 1-2 weeks,
depending on the needs of the students
Materials:
● (Warm-up) mystery boxes with variety of base 10 blocks, whiteboards, whiteboard
markers, erasers, iPads;
● (Exploring) iPads, props, chart paper, markers

Objectives for the Lesson:

○ Place value:
■ understanding of 10s and 1s
■ understanding the relationship between digit places and their value, to 99
(e.g., the digit 4 in 49 has the value of 40)
■ decomposing two-digit numbers into 10s and 1s

Warm-Up Games (5 minutes):

#ElicitingPriorKnowledge #Scaffolding #Collaboration #Choice #Communication
Mystery Boxes - have student choose a box that they either create the number given or identify
the value of the base ten blocks
● There are 6 mystery boxes around the room (labelled A-F). In partners, students
work on solving as many of the mystery boxes as they can in the time given,
using mini whiteboards or the app​ Number Pieces​ on the iPad (students can
choose).
○ Box A -
■ This box would contain 45 base ten blocks. Students write the
standard form on their whiteboards.
○ Box B -
■ This box would contain 82 base ten blocks. Students write the
standard form on their whiteboards.
○ Box C -
■ This box would contain 21 base ten blocks. Students write the
standard form on their whiteboards.
○ Box D -
■ This box would contain the number 67. Students would need to
create this using base ten blocks.
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○ Box E -
■ This box would contain the number 99. Students would need to
create this using base ten blocks.
○ Box F (extension) - ​#CreatingCognitiveDissonance #Creativity
#Collaboration #Choice
■ This box would contain 232 base ten blocks. Students who need an
extra challenge, would write the standard form on their
whiteboards.

● Students will collaborate when solving the mystery boxes and share answers with
a small group of their peers.
● To create cognitive dissonance during the discussion, ask students questions such
as:
○ Are there other ways to create the number using other base ten blocks?
How do you know this?

Exploring (50 minutes):

#Creativity #ApplicationOfKnowledge #Collaboration #Inquiry #Choice #CriticalThinking
#Exploration

Lesson 3 Station: **Rubric attached at the end**

Place Value Song​ and creation of a song or rap or poem. Each group will come up with their own
criteria to be used for evaluation, with some guidance from the teacher.

20 minutes: Students will work in small groups to create a song, rap or poem related to Place
Value. They will brainstorm their ideas using chart paper. Students will also need to select the
criteria which will be used for assessment. Students will choose three criteria.
● Teacher will monitor the groups by providing guidance and feedback as needed.
● Each video should be 3-5 minutes in length.

30 minutes: Each group will use an iPad to film their Place Value song/rap/poem using iMovie
or another media app of their choice.
● Once completed, students will upload their videos to their e-Portfolios to communicate
their learning with others, including teachers and their parents/guardians. This allows for
students to reflect on their learning and to communicate with their teachers and parents.
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Reflection/Wrap-Up (5 minutes):
#ReflectionOnLearning #Metacognition #Choice #TeacherFeedback #PeerFeedback
#DigitalPortfolios

Individually students will post their reflection on their e-Portfolios. They can upload as an audio,
written or video reflection. Some questions to consider...
● What went well?
● What would you do differently next time?
● What did you find challenging?
● What was your favourite part of the video?

** This is part of a 1-2 week unit. Please see attached proposal for the unit plan at the end of the
document.

Rubric for Song/Rap/Poem

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References:

Building Student Success- BC’s New Curriculum. (2017). Government of British Columbia.
Retrieved from​ ​https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/

Fosnot, C. T. (2013). Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice, *2nd Ed. Teachers
College Press.

Hartle, R. T., Baviskar, S. N., & Whitney, T. (2009). Essential criteria to characterize
constructivist teaching: Derived from a review of the literature and applied to five
constructivist teaching method articles. International Journal of Science Education, 31(4),
541​-550.

Pritchard, D. (2014) What is this thing called knowledge? (3rd Ed.). London: Routledge.

Reid, D. K., & Valle, J. W. (2013). A Constructivist Perspective from the Emerging Field of
Disability Studies. In C. T. Fosnot (Ed.), Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and
practice, 2nd Ed. Teachers College Press.

Rahman, S., Yasin, R. M., Jusoff, K., Yassin, S. F. M., Nordin, N. M., & Yusof, M. M. (2011).
Knowledge construction process in online learning. Middle-East Journal of Scientific
Research, 8 (2): 488-492.

Sheridan, K., Halverson, E. R., Litts, B., Brahms, L., Jacobs-Priebe, L., & Owens, T. (2014).
Learning in the making: A comparative case study of three makerspaces. Harvard
Educational Review, 84(4), 505-531.

So, W. WM. (2002). Constructivist teaching in primary science. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science
Learning and Teaching, 3(1), Article 1.

Staarman, J. K., Krol, K., & Meijden, H. V. D. (2005). Peer interaction in three collaborative
learning environments. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 40(1), 29-39.

Von Glasersfeld, E. (2008). Learning as a Constructive Activity. ​AntiMatters, 2(3),​ 33-49

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NUMBER CONCEPTS UNIT PLAN OUTLINE

Option A: Lesson Plan for Students

Topic​: Place Value for Grade Two

Time​: This unit will span over 1-2 weeks, depending on the needs of the students
Warm-Up​: At the start of each new day, the students will participate in a variety of
activities/games, including skip counting, Jeopardy, etc. and these are explained below

Grade 2 Core Competencies​: Communication, Thinking and Personal & Social

● Counting:
○ skip-counting by 2, 5, and 10:
■ using different starting points
■ increasing and decreasing (forward and backward)
● Quantities to 100 can be arranged and recognized:
○ comparing and ordering numbers to 100
○ benchmarks of 25, 50, and 100
○ place value:
■ understanding of 10s and 1s
■ understanding the relationship between digit places and their value, to 99
(e.g., the digit 4 in 49 has the value of 40)
■ decomposing two-digit numbers into 10s and 1s

Introducing the topic: ​Know-Wonder-Learn (KWL) Chart: ​Have students work in groups to
brainstorm their ideas on a large sheet of paper that is posted in the classroom. Each group can
draw and/or write what they know about place value and what questions they have or what they
wonder about place value. Once all the groups have completed this activity, they will share their
ideas with the other groups. As an alternative, students can create a popplet to share their ideas.
As students move through this unit, they can continue to add their ideas to their poster or
popplet.

Warm-Up Games (5 mins.):

1. Jeopardy - have students answer questions in groups
2. Mystery Boxes - have student choose a box that they either create the number given or
identify the value of the base blocks.
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3. Movement Skip Counting from different start points

4. Value - Identify the VALUE of the number in the tens or ones (e.g. 5 tens is worth 50 and
5 ones is worth 5)
5. Ordering Numbers - order the numbers found in the envelope from either greatest to least
or least to greatest
These games will span the first week and if a second week is necessary, they will be repeated the
second week.

Exploring:

Stations: these will be split up throughout the week

1.Exploring with Base-Ten blocks manipulatives and magnetic base-ten blocks

2. iPads- using the app​ ​Number Pieces​ - in small groups, one students writes a number on a
whiteboard and the other students in the group create this number using the base-ten blocks.
Students take turns.
3. Using whiteboard place value chart, students explore creating numbers in standard, expanded
and written notations
4. Answer word problems and create a word problem
5. Numeracy books (ie. One Hundred Ways to Get 100, Zero the Hero, A Place for Zero, Can
You Count to a Googol)
6.​ ​Place Value Song​ and creation of a song or rap or poem

Extension:
For those learners who have mastered place value to 99, they can be challenged to explore place
value to 100s and 1000s using the same activities above.

Further, students can demonstrate their knowledge by showing multiple ways to create one
number (ie. 85- show using 8 tens and 5 ones and also 7 tens and 15 ones)

Game-Based Project:

Students will work in small groups and create a Place Value game for other students to play.
After completing the game, students will present their game to the class and each group will have
the opportunity to play each others games over several days.
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Students will receive guidance with their game and with planning the various stages (proposal,
planning the details, creating rules and instructions, creating and testing game, and finalizing
game). Teachers will be facilitators and provide guidance, scaffolding and support for learning.

Assessment​:​ Students will create an​ ​Explain Everything​ ​video to document their understanding
of place value. This app allows them to record their voice, use wands to point to items on the
pages and upload screenshots and pictures from other apps.
Students will ​upload their learning (ie. video message, picture, anecdotal notes) to their​ ​digital
e-Portfolio using ​FreshGrade​ for on-going assessment and communication of student learning.
This allows for students to reflect on their learning and to communicate with their teachers and
parents.