Can teachers use constructivism ideals for themselves?An article in The Science Teacher would say absolutely! "Professional learning helps teachers translate theory into practice." Teachers all have preexisting knowledge on how they are supposed to teach and what they want to bring to the classroom. Teachers often collaborate as a team to try to figure out how they can improve their teaching strategies. Constructive learning is hard to incorporate in the classroom which is why teachers need to collaborate even more to build strong science departments. It relates to constructivism because teachers all have different viewpoints and experiences. They can collaborate these new ideas with each other to build better classrooms. When teachers collaborate and practice constructivism learning in their staff development teams, they are able to do the following things: -have a set of conversations -learn from each others past experiences or knowledge -have planned assessments to find new ideas -helps streamline administrative tasks and focus of what is important (the students) -produce knowledge that is ever growing from new resources and opportunities -have department chairs be curriculum leaders not administration leaders -practice being taught differently than they were when they were growing up -have equal opportunity to speak about their thoughts and ideas As Bill Nye said, everyone knows things we don't so it is best if we learn off of each other. Teachers need to practice what they preach so they have a smarter science department and understand the experience children will go through. CITATIONCampbell, Todd. "Strengthening Science Departments." NSTA. The Science Teacher, 1 Sept. 2012. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
4 Comments
drann
10/3/2015 02:04:48 pm
What is the constructivist theory? And, how does it directly relate to professional development in science education? Yes, stronger science departments are important, but I am unclear how that relates to constructivism. Please elucidate.
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Nick B
10/4/2015 08:35:06 am
In constructivism students are assumed to hold prior knowledge and use that knowledge to comprehend new information. When a student cannot use a prior bit of knowledge to understanding new information they either lose the information or create a new way of thinking about the information provided (new schema.) Given this do you feel the administration alone can aid students in gathering new knowledge or could parents and friends play another perhaps larger part; particularly in terms of prior knowledge.
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Nikita
10/4/2015 06:35:12 pm
I agree that we learn best off of each other, however I personally would have liked you to go more in depth about what you learned from the article that you read. Also, how will you take what you have learned from this article and use it in your own future classroom?
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Mary Beth
10/4/2015 09:29:07 pm
I really liked how you showed some examples of ways in which teachers practice constructivist learning. I wonder in what ways can you apply them directly to the classroom too?
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AuthorAnna Kirkpatrick www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/kirkpatrickscience
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