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Constructivism (Psychological constructivism and social constructivism…

- - - - Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, proposed similar ideas to Bruner’s ideas about social constructivism.
        Vygotsky’s focused on how a child’s or novice’s thinking is influenced by relationships with others who are more capable, knowledgeable or expert than the learner.
        Vygotsky made the reasonable proposal that when a child (or novice) is learning a new skill or solving a new problem, he or she can perform better if accompanied and helped by an expert than if performing alone - though still not as well as the expert.
        Example: A person who has played very little chess will probably compete better against an opponent if he or she is helped by an expert chess player rather than if competing against the opponent alone.
        Vygotsky called the difference between solo performance and assisted performance the zone of proximal development, meaning, symbolically speaking, the place or area of immediate change.
        
        From this social constructivist view point, learning is like assisted performance (Tharp & Gallimore, 1991).
        During learning, knowledge or skill is found initially ‘in’ the expert helper.
        If the expert helper is skilled and motivated to help, then the expert arranges experiences that allow the novice to practise crucial skills or to construct new knowledge.
        The expert helper is like the coach of an athlete: offering help and suggesting ways of practicing, but never doing the actual athletic work himself or herself.
        Gradually by providing continued experiences matched to the novice learner’s emerging competencies, the expert makes it possible for the novice or apprentice to appropriate (make his or her own) the skills or knowledge that originally resided only with the expert.
  - - - Another recent example of psychological constructivism is the cognitive theory of Jean Piaget.
        Piaget described learning as interplay between two mental activities that he called assimilation and accommodation.
        Assimilation is the interpretation of new information in terms of pre-existing concepts, information or ideas.
        Example: A preschool child who already understands the concept of a bird might initially label any flying object with this term, even butterflies or mosquitoes.
        Accommodation is the revision or modification of pre-existing concepts in terms of new information or experiences. It occurs alongside assimilation.
        Example: A preschool child who initially generalises the concept of a bird to include any flying object, eventually revises the concept to include only particular kinds of flying objects, such as robins and sparrows but not others like mosquitoes or airplanes.
        For Piaget, assimilation and accommodation work together to enrich a child’s thinking and to create cognitive equilibrium.
        Cognitive equilibrium is a balance between reliance on prior information and openness to new information.
        It consists of an ever-growing repertoire of mental representations for objects and experiences. Piaget called each mental representation a schema (plural: schemata).
        A schema is a concept accompanied by an elaborated mixture of vocabulary, actions and experiences related to that concept.
        Example: A child’s schema for bird includes not only the relevant verbal knowledge, but also the child’s experiences with birds, pictures of birds and conversations about birds.
        As assimilation and accommodation about birds and other flying objects operate over time, the child does not just revise and add to his vocabulary, but also adds and remembers relevant new experiences and actions. From these collective revisions and additions the child gradually constructs whole new schemata about birds, butterflies, and other flying objects.
        Learning according to Piaget: Assimilation+Accommodation -> Equilibrium -> Schemata
        This model is quite individualistic as it does not say much about how other people involved with the learner might assist in assimilating or accommodating information.
        His theory is therefore often considered less about learning and more about development or long term change in a person resulting from multiple experiences that may not be planned deliberately.
- - - - Application: Definition - Using concepts in new situations, solving particular problems.
        Example - Predict some of the things that Goldilocks might have used if she had entered your house.
      - Analysis: Definition - Distinguish parts of information, a concept, or a procedure.
        Example - Select the part of the story where Goldilocks seemed most comfortable.
      - Comprehension: Definition - Understanding facts, interpreting information.
        Example - Explain why Goldilocks liked the little bear's chair the best.
      - Synthesis: Definition - Combining elements or parts into a new object, idea, or procedure.
        Example - Tell how the story would have been different if it had been about three fishes.
      - Knowledge: Definition - Remembering or recalling facts, information, or procedures.
        Example - List three things Goldilocks did in the three bears' house.
      - Evaluation: Definition - Assessing and judging the value or ideas, objects, or materials in a particular situation.
        Example - Decide whether Goldilocks was a bad girl, and justify your position.