constructivism

Constructivism is not a new idea. It was susinctly put by Plutarch, 2000 years ago. "//The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."// Learning is not a one way transfer of information to the learner, the "chalk and talk" that has characterised schools. A passion for learning is essential. (Tony, May?)

Constructionism, with a N: Papert's beliefs are rooted very firmly in Piaget's findings about children's learning. Papert worked with Piaget for 5 years, applying his own expertise in maths to help build Piaget's theories.(2) Two points from Piaget stand out: From this point __arises the obligation of the modern teacher to restructure traditional subjects such as maths to fit the child__. //(this statement is qualified below in discussion).// Hence, Papert has restructured maths by inventing the computing language logo to fit the natural development of the child. From this point arises the obligation of the modern teacher to investigate the cognitive structures of their students and to interact with those cognitive structures in a subtle, not a heavy handed manner. Piaget found that incredible amounts of learning occur without formal teaching. In his work, Papert tries to discover and promote the factors that are causing this "hidden" learning and also asks: Why is it that learning often does not occur with formal teaching (and often does occur without formal teaching)?
 * **Children build or construct their own intellectual structures.**
 * **Children build on what they know.** Piaget's term for children's continual balancing of existing cognitive structures with new experiences is equilibration.

Harel and Papert (1990) argue that some materials are better with regard to the following criteria: (Bill May22)
 * appropriability (some things lend themselves better than others to being made one's own)
 * evocativeness (some materials are more apt than others to precipitate personal thought)
 * integration (some materials are better carriers of multiple meaning and multiple concepts)

So, learning materials such as the logo programming language, LEGO TClogo control technology, Instructional Software Design Project (a sophisticated teaching approach) or GameMaker (another evocative low entry high ceiling programming language) in combination with an expert teacher (not just technically expert either) are necessary for the constructionist approach to be effective. (Bill Oct10, 2006)

http://gamelearning.wikispaces.com/Constructionist-model Fairly comprehensive comments, including discussion, explaining constuctionism at the game learning wiki

NEED TO MOVE THE BEST OF THAT MATERIAL OVER TO HERE! (Bill 23Dec06)

- from Minsky's Society of Mind, 10.4
 * Papert's Principle**: //Some of the most crucial steps in mental growth are based not simply on acquiring new skills, but on acquiring new administrative ways to use what one already knows//

This was used by Papert (in the 1960s) to explain the results of Piaget's conservation experiments. There is a diagram showing the agents involved in Minsky's book. Most previous theories had suggested that children developed different kinds of reasoning as time goes by. Papert suggested how the different ingredients were organised. a mind cannot grow very much merely by accumulating knowledge, it must also develop better ways to use what it knows.



minimal guidance during instruction can work
http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/Constructivism_Kirschner_Sweller_Clark_EP_06.pdf Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching

Their arguments that inquiry learning approaches:

//…ignore both the structures that constitute human cognitive architecture and evidence from empirical studies over the past half century that consistently indicate that minimally-guided instruction is less effective and less efficient than instructional approaches that place a strong emphasis on guidance of the student learning process. (Kirschner et al (2006).//

There is commentary by artichoke at this [|wag the dog] blog entry and also at [|this wiki entry] which provoked some critical discussion. Read both arti's original and the comments.

I'm revisiting the Kirschner et al critique of constructivism (Bill Oct10, 2006)

The URL of the paper has changed, just tracked it down, the new URL is [| here(pdf)]

also go here for [|gel papers]:

gel = guided experiential learning. there are quite a few papers that look interesting, including one on the role of deliberate practice in the role of acquiring expertise, which I agree with [|Ericsson]

the contradiction b/w the Kirschner and Ericsson papers is resolved thus: constructionism / constructivism does work provided it helps to motivate individuals in effortful study - constructionism can achieve this more readily than other methods, not for all, but does work for those who become motivated - the teacher needs to be expert and understand what is happening

constructionism as developed by Papert et al is a method of subtle (environmental) intervention, yes, there is scaffolding but it is relatively unobtrusive - with scaffolding being removed (the teacher getting out the way and letting students create) where appropriate - other approaches may not enable able students to flourish in this way, they may always keep students chained up

the point is that constructivism used in this way is a form of guided experiental learning, it is just that the method of guidance is much more sophisticated and can create more interesting / enjoyable classroom environments, for both students and teachers

this was certainly explained clearly by Harel and Papert - only Papert's 1980 book Mindstorms is cited in the references, a lot of very good research is ignored in this "authoritative" study

constructionism / discovery learning does not work as some sort of generalised "weeties for the brain" in traditional School environments - however, the claim that children often learn more (through play) before they come to school than they learn at school ought to be not forgotten in thinking these issues through

//"Games are... the most ancient and timehonored (sic) vehicle for education. They are the original educational technology, the natural one, having received the seal of approval of natural selection. We don’t see mother lions lecturing cubs at the chalkboard; we don’t see senior lions writing their memoirs for posterity. In light of this, the question, ‘Can games have educational value?’ becomes absurd. It is not games but schools that are the newfangled notion, the untested fad, the violator of tradition. Game-playing is a vital educational function for any creature capable of learning."// (Crawford 1982)

the bit in Kirschner et al about long term memory I think is refuted in this paper [|The Expert Mind]. Read the section on chunking, particularly the last couple of paragraphs:

//"Ericsson also cites studies of physicians who clearly put information into long-term memory and take it out again in ways that enable them to make diagnoses. Perhaps Ericsson's most homely example, though, comes from reading. In a 1995 study he and Walter Kintsch of the University of Colorado found that interrupting highly proficient readers hardly slowed their reentry to a text; in the end, they lost only a few seconds. The researchers explained these findings by recourse to a structure they called// **//long-term working memory//**//, an almost oxymoronic coinage because it assigns to long-term memory the one thing that had always been defined as incompatible with it: thinking. But brain-imaging studies done in 2001 at the University of Konstanz in Germany provide support for the theory by showing that expert chess players activate long-term memory much more than novices do.//

//Fernand Gobet of Brunel University in London champions a rival theory, devised with Simon in the late 1990s.// **//It extends the idea of chunks by invoking highly characteristic and very large patterns consisting of perhaps a dozen chess pieces. Such a template, as they call it, would have a number of slots into which the master could plug such variables as a pawn or a bishop.//** //A template might exist, say, for the concept of "the isolated queen's-pawn position from the Nimzo-Indian Defense," and a master might change a slot by reclassifying it as the same position "minus the dark-squared bishops." To resort again to the poetic analogy, it would be a bit like memorizing a riff on "Mary had a little lamb" by substituting rhyming equivalents at certain slots, such as "Larry" for "Mary," "pool" for "school" and so on. Anyone who knows the original template should be able to fix the altered one in memory in a trice."//

Papert on instructionism, pedagogy and constructionism: //"The word **instructionism** is intended to mean something rather different from **pedagogy**, or the art of teaching. It is to be read on a more ideological or programmatic level as expressing the belief that the route to better learning must be the improvement of instruction - if School is less than perfect, why then, you know what to do: Teach better. Constructionism is one of a family of educational philosophies that denies this "obvious truth." It does not call in question the value of instruction as such ... The constructionist attitude to teaching is not at all dismissive because it is **minimalist** - the goal is to teach in such a way as to produce the most learning for the least teaching ... an African proverb: If a man is hungry you can give him a fish, but it is better to give him a line and teach him to catch fish himself" (The Children's Machine, 139)//

Kirschner et al say "Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work" No qualification there, in that headline grabbing dogma. I say, it can work, but you need good teaching materials and an expert teacher.

Rebuttal of Kirschner et al references
good constructionist research: [|Educational software: Designed by Kids for Kids] Bill Kerr Students at the Year 8 level used LogoWriter software to design computer screens to teach Year 3/4 students Fractions. Students were set the task of doing transformations between words, symbols and pictures using LogoWriter. They recorded their experiences in a journal and identified problems they encountered and solutions to those problems. They helped each other solve problems in Fractions, design and computer programming.

Idit Harel's ISDP (Instructional Software Design Project) study is acknowledged as good in a critical research study by Thomas Reeves, [|Questioning the Questions ...]

Motivated students are capable of effortful study. This Scientific American article, [|The Expert Mind], argues the importance of effortful study.