Constructivism in Education

                

Constructivism reveals an idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves, each learner individually and socially construct meaning as she/he learns.

              

                 There is a teacher who is called Sarabinh Levy-Brightman. She helps competing teams prepare for a class debate on Jacksonian demcracy. Sarabinh apply constructivist learning philosophy on her students. I think that Sarabinh’s approach is consistent with a constructivist learning philosophy because she let her students to reveal their own idea about any subject. Also, students make their own process to prepare their individual idea.

                

                    The best process for a student is the process which is made by him. Constructivism gives students ownership of what they learn since learning is based on students’ questions and explorations, and often the students have a hand in designing the assessment as well. Constructivist assessment the students’ initiatives and personal investments in their journals, research, reports.  Furthermore, constructivist learning is transferable. In constructivist classrooms, students create organizing principles that they can take with them to other learning settings.    

     On the other hand, there are also some disadvantages of Constructivism. The Constructivism curriculum eliminates standardized testing and grades. This eliminates grade-centered goals and rewards as well as the comparisons of student state-wide or district-specific progress. Also, the training necessary for constructive teaching is extensive and often requires costly long-term Professional development.