Constructivism - P.M.I.

CONSTRUCTIVISM, A LEARNING THEORY

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING
All students must participate by actively engaging in a role	Students can construct wrong idea’s about information	Students previous experiences & their own reflections of those
Students are able to process information in their own way	Students may chose to disregard new information	No evaluation through testing
It allows the students to create their own understanding of the information & knowledge being taught	Students may not participate well in collaborating activities with other students	Students still need to be aware of having to ask questions, explore and assess their knowledge
Group work allows the students to collaborate their ideas for a greater perspective	Students may not be very good at the reflecting process	Students who come from different backgrounds, some of which may be privileged to have had outstanding teachers, committed parents, and rich home environments, could possibly take charge of the activities
Students are able to construct their own understanding of knowledge	Students may clash with different beliefs or past experiences	Teacher’s need to ask “good questions”
Teachers use effective pedagogy by guiding the learning	Students may find it difficult to understand if the information doesn’t match their previous knowledge or experiences	The teacher is continually reassessing the students pre-existing conceptions as well as guiding and building on the students own learning
There is a range of different teaching practises utilised	Collaboration may create a majority versus minority of opinions and conclusions	Most activities are based around experiments and real world problem solving
Students get a chance to reflect on their learning and talk about it		What is to happen if the student has no pre-existing conceptions
The teacher’s are encouraging the student’s to realise how the activity could be used in the learning process
Students use their existing knowledge and experiences to help their learning journey
The classroom has a student focus not teacher focus
Students get to view facts as a dynamic way in which ‘how the world works’ instead of more facts to be memorised
Students have the chance to further explore activities at their own pace or will
Students have control of their own learning process
Students learn not only from a teacher, but also from themselves and peers
Students learn more and enjoy learning when they are actively participating rather than listening or reading
Students are able to think and understand more instead of memorising
Students are able to utilise what they learn in a constructivist’s classroom in other learning environments
Students are able to own what they learn due to the learning based upon their own questions and explorations
Students learn to express knowledge through a variety of ways
Students will know how to apply what they’ve learn to a real-world situation
Students can enhance their social and communication skills