Constructivcist Learning Approach - How Far in Jamaican Schools

Abstract

This study seeks to identify whether or not the constructivist approach to teaching and learning is being practiced in Jamaican schools. The main proponents of the constructivist view of teaching and learning are, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Howard Gardner and John Dewey. Interviews were conducted with two teachers, one from a prominent teachers’ college, and the other from a prominent traditional high school; direct observation of two classroom sessions of a primary school was also conducted. The following questions were asked of the interviewees: 1) What are the subject areas that you teach?; 2) What teaching method(s) do you use?; 3) How do you engage your students?; 4) What is the duration of your classes?; 5) What are the assessment scheme(s) that you use?; 6) Is there a correlation between the courses that you teach and the duration of the session?; and 7) How are lesson plans prepared?This was in an effort to seek a response to the main question at hand.