Social Constructivism

Social Constructivism expands on the Constructivist epistemology founded by Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Constructivism is based on the belief that, through the processes of accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences (Howell, 2012). Social Constructivism is therefore an extension of this theory that incorporates other individuals in the construct of knowledge through their experiences in learning with each other. Lev Vygotsky, a key social constructivist theorist, theorizes that the development of knowledge understanding is derivative of socialization and social interactions (Vygotsky, 1978). 

 

In the classroom environment, social constructivism creates a learning atmosphere that thrives through the exchange of ideas and student collaboration. From these interactions students are able to form valuable negation skills while also learning how to think and understand properly. ICT and Web 2.0 are two ways that 21^st Century learning tools can be applied to the social constructivist framework.

  

One example of this is the use of a Discovery Mission to facilitate a student centered learning experience where a small group of students command their own learning journey (Kidd & O’Shea, 2013). In a discovery mission the teacher highlights a mission goal to students and provides a brief background on the task at hand. From here, students are delivered with their ‘mission’- a specific question that students will need to answer to complete the exercise. What follows is a student lead learning experience where participants are required to collate information and collaborate on ideas to produce an answer to the proposed mission. This is then delivered to the classroom via a multimedia presentation (such as PowerPoint, or a digital story) and peer reviewed by the students themselves or shared online in a Web 2.0 application (class blog or Wiki). 

Kidd & O’Shea highlight many positive aspects about the collaborative nature of Discovery Missions including its ease of use in the Web 2.0 environment, but I do have a few issues with the nature of the process and social constructivism itself. I have undertaken one discovery mission in one of our tutorials, and I found the process to be disorderly and dysfunctional. The success of this process in a social-constructivist environment is largely dependent on the dynamic of a group, the co-operation of individuals and the willingness to partake in the task at hand. The result was an uncompleted task with little to no knowledge development and lack of order and structure that accompanied the progressive method (Hirsch, 2001).

Instead, I would lean towards a more constructivist approach to teaching where knowledge conceptualization occurs through active learning. An example of this could be the use of a problem based online game that maps the students’ progress as well as encouraging them to take risks and experiment.  Below is a simple example of a mathematics game that is used to teach triangle area calculations to year 9 students:

  

TRIANGLE GAME!

 

I do agree with the constructivist approach to learning that social-constructivism is based on, but I do not think that all knowledge is gained from purely social learning and collective experience.

References

Howell, J (2012). Teaching with ICT. Australia: Oxford University Press

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interaction Between Learning and Development. From Mind and Society. Cambridge: Harvard Univeristy Press

Kidd, J & O'Shea, P. (2013). Discovery Missions: An Educational Tool for Web 2.0. In R. McBride & M. Searson (Eds), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Confrence 2013 . Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

Hirsch, E.D Jr. (2001) Romancing the Child. Education Matters. Spring edn.

Images

Students Collaborating. [image] n.d. Retrievd May 20, 2013 from https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRIE5zxR5DtdTsNT3b0AWR3dEU1IzG_VsXlTQoN3kIiOLNqMG4sYw

 Team Building?. [image] n.d Retrived May 20, 2013 from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpsCERykT1ErHFR-dXsiczClz-K9RAUEvCEh-zznMmrHI9ESZdr5c2B34KcUdsrvdvptph88wgu8ZpWHMvFOUal7ZJboZPHAvOnV8DSAJ7WZCNpdQDo5UFt1BhX95GvvSDxTulCjWMPDf/s400/big+question.jpg