Lev Vygotsky

Essential components to constructivist teaching

1. Elicit prior knowledge. New knowledge is created in relation to learner’s pre-existing knowledge.
2. Create cognitive dissonance. Assign problems and activities that will challenge students.
3. Apply knowledge with feedback.
4. Reflect on learning.

Constructivism can be traced back to educational psychology in the work of Jean Piaget (1896–1980) identified with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget focused on how humans make meaning in relation to the interaction between their experiences and their ideas.

Piaget’s theory of constructivism argues that people produce knowledge and form meaning based upon their experiences. Piaget’s theory covered learning theories, teaching methods, and education reform. Assimilating causes an individual to incorporate new experiences into the old experiences.

Vygotsky

In a constructivist classroom, students are encouraged to use prior experiences to help them form and reform interpretations. The democratic and interactive process of a constructivist classroom allows students to be active and autonomous learners. Using constructivist strategies, teachers are more effective.

Constructivism is often compared to objectivism, which is usually quoted as being the counter point or direct opposite of constructivism. Much of objectivist theory is based on the work of behaviorists such as Skinner (1954.)

Definition. Constructivist theories of leadership emphasize new and integrative approaches to leadership development, effectiveness, and evaluation. The resulting research is focused on how leaders see their roles, how they derive meaning from their work, and how they assess their own development.

The bad side of constructivism lies in its tendency towards epistemological relativism (including individual and social community relativism), which seems to be the major challenge that constructivists face (See also Fox, 2001; and Cobb, 1996 for similar criticism).

Strategic leadership is a practice in which executives, using different styles of management, develop a vision for their organization that enables it to adapt to or remain competitive in a changing economic and technological climate.

Constructivism is an epistemology, or a theory, used to explain how people know what they know. The basic idea is that problem solving is at the heart of learning, thinking, and development.

One of the biggest disadvantages of constructivism is that the learner may be hampered by contextualising learning in that, at least initially, they may not be able to form abstractions and transfer knowledge and skills in new situations (Merrill, 1991) In other words, there is often, during the initial stage.

A constructivist lesson is rooted in an authentic context that draws upon the students’ real-world experience. Students construct their understanding of tessellations by using Web-based resources, participating in multimedia activities, and applying their knowledge to a real-world problem.

Vygotsky’s theory states that knowledge is co-constructed and that individuals learn from one another. It is called a social constructivist theory because in Vygotsky’s opinion the learner must be engaged in the learning process.

Social constructivism focuses on the collaborative nature of learning. Knowledge develops from how people interact with each other, their culture, and society at large. Students rely on others to help create their building blocks, and learning from others helps them construct their own knowledge and reality.

The most important application of Vygotsky’s theory to education is in hisconcept of a zone of proximal development. This concept is important becauseteachers can use it as a guide to a child’s development. A second important aspect of Vygotsky’s theory is the role of play in histheory.

First of all both of the Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s theories interested in particular aspect of the cognitive development. While Piaget’s theory suggests that after cognitive development, learning occur, Vygotsky’s theory claims that learning can lead development and sometimes after development learning occurs.

What Is the Piaget Reading Theory? Piaget’s theory in a nutshell was that children begin the process of reading and language acquisition by first gathering sensory and motor information. This is information about the way things feel, taste, smell and look.

ZPD is defined by Vygotsky (1978) as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (p. 86).

Vygotsky’s Definition of ZPD The concept, zone of proximal development was developed by Soviet psychologist and social constructivist Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934). Scaffolding, or supportive activities provided by the educator, or more competent peer, to support the student as he or she is led through the ZPD.

Vygotsky’s approach to child development is a form of social constructivism, based on the idea that cognitive functions are the products of social interactions. Vygotsky emphasized the collaborative nature of learning by the construction of knowledge through social negotiation.

To apply the concept of the zone of proximal development, teachers instruct in small steps according to the tasks a child is already able to do independently. This strategy is referred to as scaffolding. The teacher should also support and assist the child until he or she can complete all of the steps independently.