Cognitive Constructivist Way of Teaching Scientific and Technical Contents

Darjo Zuljan,Petra Pejić Papak,Milena Valenčič Zuljan

doi:10.23947/2334-8496-2021-9-1-23-36

Abstract

For pupils to obtain high-quality and permanent knowledge, it is important that the teaching of scientific and technical contents is based on cognitive constructivist approach. We carried out a research, during which we asked three research questions, on a sample of 167 class teachers in the Republic of Slovenia. We wanted to find out: how often class teachers included elements typical of cognitive constructivist approach; was the frequency of using elements of cognitive constructivist teaching model linked to the teacher’s concern for their own professional development, and was the frequency of using elements of cognitive constructivist teaching model linked to the factors, such as the teacher’s estimated importance, difficulty and necessity of Science and Technics, the assessment of their own competence and professional enthusiasm. Data were collected with three scales: ways of teaching scientific and technical contents; attitude to scientific and technical contents and teaching and components of professional development. Data were processed according to descriptive and inferential statistics. The research showed that the formulation and verification of hypotheses, two important elements in view of cognitive constructivist teaching model, were less often represented. With statistically significant higher frequency they were organized by teachers, who rated their competence higher, were more enthusiastic and cared more about their professional development.

Highlights

In today’s highly developed technological world, in the time of fast and unpredictable technological changes, a relevant technological competence is of fundamental importance for people
Since the cognitive constructivist way of teaching points out mental activities of pupils, all the statements were designed so that they originated in the descriptions deriving from pupils’ activities
Our research showed that the elements of cognitive constructivist way of teaching are more often organized by teachers with greater concern of their professional development, in our research measured with observance of new scientific research findings referring to learning, teaching and other subject matter as well as the reflection on their own pedagogic practice

Summary

Introduction

In today’s highly developed technological world, in the time of fast and unpredictable technological changes, a relevant technological competence is of fundamental importance for people. In order to achieve technological literacy in each pupil, it is important for the teacher to make, while taking account of learning goals and contents as well as pupils’ characteristics, a professionally well considered selection and combination of didactic strategies (project and problem teaching, problem and traditional teaching, etc.) and to form encouraging and innovative learning environment. The teachers’ role is to design a complex, challenging learning environment with original authentic tasks (Muijs and Reynolds, 2017), and to encourage and accept student autonomy (Moustafa, Ben-Zvi-Assaraf and Eshach, 2013) It is pupil-oriented teaching (Valenčič Zuljan, 2002; Wilen, Hutchison and Ishler, 2008; Muijs and Reynolds, 2017) that emphasizes the importance of didactic principle of activity and individualization. Children should be able to acquire the knowledge according to different ways and various activities in a stimulating and innovative learning environment with a proper balance between individual and group work, research and discovering, and the teacher’s systematic guidance and moderating (Barron and Darling-Hammond, 2013)

Materials and Methods

Results

Conclusions