Constructionist learning
Encyclopedia
Constructivism (learning theory)
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. During infancy, it was an interaction between human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Piaget called these systems of...
theory that individual learners construct mental models to understand the world around them. However, constructionism holds that learning can happen most effectively when people are also active in making tangible objects in the real world. In this sense, constructionism is connected with experiential learning
Experiential education
Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is mistakenly used interchangeably with experiential learning...
, and builds on Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....
's epistemological theory of constructivism
Constructivism (learning theory)
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. During infancy, it was an interaction between human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Piaget called these systems of...
..
Seymour Papert
Seymour Papert
Seymour Papert is an MIT mathematician, computer scientist, and educator. He is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, as well as an inventor of the Logo programming language....
defined constructionism in a proposal to the National Science Foundation entitled Constructionism: A New Opportunity for Elementary Science Education as follows: "The word constructionism is a mnemonic for two aspects of the theory of science education underlying this project. From constructivist theories of psychology we take a view of learning as a reconstruction rather than as a transmission of knowledge. Then we extend the idea of manipulative materials to the idea that learning is most effective when part of an activity the learner experiences as constructing a meaningful product.".
As Papert and Idit Harel say at the start of Situating Constructionism, "It is easy enough to formulate simple catchy versions of the idea of constructionism; for example, thinking of it as 'learning-by-making'. One purpose of this introductory chapter is to orient the reader toward using the diversity in the volume to elaborate—to construct—a sense of constructionism much richer and more multifaceted, and very much deeper in its implications, than could be conveyed by any such formula.".
Papert's ideas became well-known through the publication of his seminal book Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas
Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas
Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas , published by Basic Books, is a book by Seymour Papert. He proposes a unique computer-based learning environment called the Microworld. His primary belief about the Microworld's design is that it compliments the natural knowledge building...
(Basic Books, 1980). Papert described children creating programs in the Logo language. He likened their learning to a living in a "mathland," where learning mathematical ideas is as natural as learning French while living in France.
Instructional Principles (Problem Based LearningProblem-based learningProblem-based learning is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject in the context of complex, multifaceted, and realistic problems...
)
Here is one type of theory that constructivist learning theory can be applied in a classroom setting. This is known as Problem Based Learning. Problem based learning is a method which allows student to learn about a subject by exposing them to multiple problems. So they will be able to construct their understanding of the subject through these problems. This kind of learning can be very effective for mathematics where students try to solve the problems in many different ways which allow the student's brain to be stimulated. There are different types of instructional strategies to make problem based learning more effective.1. Try to create all the learning activities for the learner to be related to a larger task. This is important because it allows student to see the connection to the activities that can be applied to many aspect of life. As a result, the learner will find the materials and activities they are doing useful.
2. The learner need to be supported to feel that they are beginning to have ownership of the overall problem.
3. An authentic task should be designed for the learner. This means that the task and the learners cognitive ability have to match with the problems to make learning valuable.
4. Allow reflection on the content being learned so the learner can think through the process of what they have leared.
5. Allow and encourage the learners to test ideas against different views in different context.
These are some examples of problem based learning and is an example of a constructivist approach to learning.
Bringing IT to a Classroom
Papert has been a huge proponent of bringing IT to classrooms, as in his early uses of the Logo language to teach mathematics to children. Constructionist learning involves students drawing their own conclusions through creative experimentation and the making of social objects. The constructionist teacher takes on a mediational role rather than adopting an instructionist position. Teaching "at" students is replaced by assisting them to understand—and help one another to understand—problems in a hands-on way.While constructionism has, due to its impetus, been primarily used in science and mathematics teaching (in the form of inquiry-based science), it is arguable that it developed in a different form in the field of media studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
in which students often engage with media theory and practice simultaneously, in a complementary praxis. More recently it has gained a foot hold in Applied linguistics
Applied linguistics
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems...
, in the field of second language acquisition (or SLA
Second language acquisition
Second-language acquisition or second-language learning is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the name of the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process...
). One such application has been the use of the popular game SimCity
SimCity
SimCity is a critically acclaimed city-building simulation video game, first released in 1989, and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computers and game consoles, and spawned several sequels including SimCity 2000 in 1994,...
as a means of teaching English using constructionist techniques (Gromik:2004).
Begininning in the 1980s, The LEGO Group
Lego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
funded research in Papert's research group at the MIT Media Laboratory, which at the time was known as the "Epistemology and Learning Group." When LEGO launched its LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System
Lego Mindstorms
The LEGO Mindstorm series of kits contain software and hardware to create small, customizable and programmable robots. They include a programmable 'Brick' computer that controls the system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and LEGO parts from the Technics line to create the mechanical...
in 1998, which was based on work in his group, they received permission to use the moniker "Mindstorms" from Seymour's 1980 book title. In The LEGO Group's LEGO Serious Play
Lego Serious Play
Lego Serious Play is a consultant service offered by a LEGO Serious Play Certified Partner. Its goal is fostering creative thinking through team building metaphors of their organizational identities and experiences using Lego bricks...
project, business people learn to express corporate issues and identity through the medium of plastic bricks -- another form of constructionist learning.
In 2005, Papert, together with Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte is an American architect best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also known as the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association ....
and Alan Kay
Alan Kay
Alan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design, and for coining the phrase, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."He is the president of the Viewpoints Research...
launched the One Laptop Per Child initiative to put constructionist learning into practice in the developing world. The aim is to provide $100 laptops to every child in the developing world.
Constructionist learning have also been put into practice by the World Wide Workshop Foundation.
With Papert as an advisor, the foundation established the Globaloria
Globaloria
Globaloria is a social network for learning web-game design and simulation production. Invented by the World Wide Workshop Foundation in the spring of 2006, it seeks to create technology-based educational opportunities through a flexible set of virtual learning networks for students in developing...
program in 2006 to teach youth to become game and simulation makers using constructionist learning principles Wikipedia. Globoria. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globaloria.
Computer programming languages
A number of programming languageProgramming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s have been created, wholly or in part, for education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
al use, to support the constructionist approach to learning. These languages have been dynamically typed, and reflective
Reflection (computer science)
In computer science, reflection is the process by which a computer program can observe and modify its own structure and behavior at runtime....
. They include:
- Logo is a multi-paradigmMulti-paradigm programming languageProgramming languages can be grouped by the number and types of paradigms supported.-Paradigm summaries:A concise reference for the programming paradigms listed in this article....
language, which is an easier-to-read adaptation and dialect of LispLisp programming languageLisp is a family of computer programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized syntax. Originally specified in 1958, Lisp is the second-oldest high-level programming language in widespread use today; only Fortran is older...
, without the parenthesesS-expressionS-expressions or sexps are list-based data structures that represent semi-structured data. An S-expression may be a nested list of smaller S-expressions. S-expressions are probably best known for their use in the Lisp family of programming languages...
. Logo is known for its introduction of turtle graphicsTurtle graphicsTurtle graphics is a term in computer graphics for a method of programming vector graphics using a relative cursor upon a Cartesian plane...
to elementary schoolchildren in the 1980s. Its creators were Wally FeurzeigWally FeurzeigWally Feurzeig is an inventor of the LOGO programming language, and a well-known researcher in Artificial Intelligence.During the early 1960s, BBN had become a major center of computer science research and innovative applications...
, and Papert. - SmalltalkSmalltalkSmalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...
is an object-orientedObject-oriented programmingObject-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...
language that was designed and created at Xerox PARCXerox PARCPARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and co-development company in Palo Alto, California, with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology and hardware systems....
by a team led by Alan KayAlan KayAlan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design, and for coining the phrase, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."He is the president of the Viewpoints Research...
. - EtoysEToys (Programming Language)Etoys is a child-friendly computer environment and object-oriented prototype-based programming language for use in education.Etoys is a media-rich authoring environment with a scripted object model for many different objects that runs on different platforms and is free and open source.- Brief...
is being developed since the 1990s under the direction of Alan KayAlan KayAlan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design, and for coining the phrase, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."He is the president of the Viewpoints Research...
, most recently by the Viewpoints Research InstituteViewpoints Research InstituteStarted by Alan Kay, Viewpoints Research Institute is a nonprofit public benefit organization incorporated in 2001 to improve "powerful ideas education" for the world's children and to advance the state of systems research and personal computing...
, based on MorphicMorphic (software)The name "Morphic" was taken from the Greek word "morph", its morphs taking on the role of "forms", the basic graphical building blocks in earlier Self systems and in Smalltalk MVC....
tile scripting. Etoys was initially targeted at primary school math and science education. - Scratch was developed in the early 21st century at MIT Media LabMIT Media LabThe MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
under Mitchel ResnickMitchel ResnickMitchel Resnick is LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, Director of the Okawa Center, and Director of the at the MIT Media Lab. Resnick currently serves as the head of the Media Arts and Sciences academic program, the academic program that grants master's degrees and Ph.Ds at the MIT Media...
. Like Etoys, it is based on Morphic tile scripts. Scratch is initially targeted at programming interactive multimedia, in primary and secondary education. - StarLogo TNG was developed by the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program under Eric Klopfer. It combines a block programming interface with compelling 3D graphics. It is targeted at programming games and game-like simulations in middle and secondary schools.
- Easy Java Simulations or Ejs or EJS was developed by Open Source PhysicsOpen Source PhysicsOpen Source Physics, or OSP, is a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Davidson College, whose mission is to spread the use of open source code libraries, tools, and compiled simulations for physics and other numerical simulations. The OSP collection provides curriculum...
under Francisco Esquembre. The user is working at a higher conceptual level, declaring and organizing the equations and other mathematical expressions that operate the simulation. It is targeted at programming physics simulations in secondary schools and universities.
External links
- Situating Constructionism by Seymour Papert and Idit Harel, the first chapter from the book Constructionism (1991).
- Constructionism vs Instructionism - speech delivered by Papert to a conference of educators in Japan, in the 1980s
- Seymour Papert's website - with several articles and resources
- The Nature of Constructionist learning - MIT open-to-all online reading list on constructionism
- Lifelong Kindergarten Group - MIT Lifelong Kindergarten research group
- Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling - Northwestern University's Constructionist learning and agent-based modeling research group
- LEGO Education - LEGO Education is the educational division of the LEGO Group. Resources on how to 'brick out' in the classroom
- NetLogo - A parallel Logo and premier agent-based modeling environment used in a large number of constructionist materials
- Ackerman on Constructivism vs Constructionism - Edith Ackermann draws out the differences between Piaget's Constructivism, Vygotsky's Socio-Constructivism and Papert's ConstructioNism
- Serious Play - LEGO Serious Play have suits shuffle bricks in a bid to free up corporate creativity.
- Constructionist learning of mechanics, electronics, software using robot kits
- GoGo Board - The GoGo Board is an open-source, low-cost educational robotics platform inspired by Constructionist principles, developed at the MIT Media Lab.
- Easy Java Simulation - Ejs is a free authoring tool written in Java that helps non-programmers create interactive simulations in Java, mainly for teaching or learning purposes, part of the Open Source Physics project.