I wish to discuss what Von Glasersfeld means when he talks about constructivism. He uses this term contruct knowlege as opposed to aquirering or gaining knowlege is to show that knowlege is something that we bulid on that we "construct." It conjures up the image that knowlege is something we must buld from the ground up and not something we can add to our arsinal of learning or take in through some other means. To construct knowlege is to go through life and based on your experiences know things the way you do. Experience plays a vital role in constructing knowlege. If your knowlge is that women are pretty, it because you have experienced what ugly to you means and you know what pretty to you means based on your experience with what it means to be ugly or in other words not beagtiful. The conditions in which we construct knowlege is when we come across something that challenges what we know by showing us a case were our knowlege does not hold, and we make changes to our knowlege and come to know something new based on the thing that caused us to question what we thought we knew. This is also the same reason Von Glaserfeld refers to knowlege as theory because a theory is something we believe and think we know to be true but there is a chance it is false just like with our knowlege. The reason knowlege is viable rather than correct is that being viable allows knowlege to adapt and evolve with our experienceses and and it is not fixed and unchanging with what is what is implied when one says knowlege is correct.
Assumng I believe in Constructivism (shich I do) I wish to also say how it would effect my role as a teacher. Hypathetically If I were a teacher and asked my students to turn there home work in at the end of class because I had a knowlege that some students came late to class and they might like me better as a teacher if I did not penalize them for being late. In so doing I have the experience that the students will then procrastinate their homework assignment and do it while I am lecturing, that would challenge my knowlege and I would adjust what I know, (Construct my knowlege) so I would ask for their home work at the beginning of class so a.) People might be on time. and B.) They will pay attention to me during class. This is a constructivism view point because I am able to change what I know, what I know bases on my experiences and what I know is viable meaning it is a theory that based on my experience with the class, I know is a wrong theory and I must make changes to make it a more correct one.
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I thought that you took a really interesting spin on the question. I think that most of the class went more specifically for what they could implement in lectures and discussions, myself included. I think that that is a very beneficial way of using a belief in constructivism to alter teaching styles. Maybe this is just my narrow mindedness but, I am curious to know what could be done in a classroom with a constructivism perspective for the teaching of students and their knowledge rather than the instructor's?
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of turning homework in at the beginning of class. I think it forces the students to be prepared for class when the bell rings. Also, any questions from the previous lesson can be discussed at the beginning of class and therefore do not take away from the new lesson. I think this form of constructivism is from the teachers view, and I thought the assignment was to use constructivism for your students, how would you expand your theory to include students as well? Maybe go a week with homework turned in at the end of class, so the students can see the harm, and they too can "construct" knowledge, or learn by experience.
ReplyDeleteYou have captured some of von Glasersfeld's thinking, but unfortunately it is mixed in with your own ideas about what it means to construct. von Glasersfeld uses "construct" to refer to the way that knowledge is created through our interpretation of our experience. What we come to know depends entirely on what meanings we make from experience. Because meanings are not embedded in experiences, we can't merely absorb the "right" meaning from our experiences. Instead, we create that meaning as we try to make sense of the experiences.
ReplyDeleteI liked the interesting take you took on the question for paragraph 2. I noticed though that your main point had to do with how your knowledge as a teacher would be adjusted as you have experiences in your classroom, and I would like to maybe hear your ideas for what you would do in your classroom to help shape your STUDENTS' experiences. Great job!
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