Constructivism In Education Research Articles

Freinet and Montessori in practice. A comparative analysis of the meanings attributed to the process of learning by early education teachers – research report

The article presented is a qualitative analysis of the early education Freinet and Montessori teachers in relation to their educational practices in the scope of educational constructivism. Understanding constructivism as a metaphor describing process of learning, the authors outline similarities and differences in the conceptions attributed to the processes of learning between the two researched groups of teachers. The results of the analysis show the opposite “direction” of the thematizations. Freinet teachers concentrate on the techniques and then – in their narratives – outline the values related to education whereas Montessori teachers’ narratives are oriented at values and only illustrated with some technological examples. The outcomes of the analysis can be formulated in a form of provisional synthesis: The realization of constructivism in education is not connected so much with so called “active learning techniques” but rather with values, individual and shared axio-educational orientations and the quality of relations between various subjects involved in education. Such a hypothesis leads to the questioning of the tendency according to which teachers’ education should be practical. On the contrary, we claim that such a conception on teachers’ education might be an obstacle to the wide implementation of constructivism in educational practices.

Development Book Based on Constructivism for Basic Education in Primary School Teacher Education Program

<span lang="EN-US">The objectives of this research are: 1) to develop of book for basic education in the constructivism-based; (2) to investigate the feasibility of book for basic education in the constructivism-based; and (3) the effectiveness of book for basic education in the constructivism-based for the students’ achievement STKIP Muhammadiyah of Blora Central Java. The research used the Research and Development (R&D) method, which referred to the model claim by Thiagarajan (4D), namely: (1) Define; (2) Design; (3) Development; (4) Disseminate. The respondents of book for basic education included field testing respondents consisting 2 validators and 2 practitioners, limited scale main field testing respondents consisting 10 students, and operational field testing respondents consisting of 30 students in class existing learning. The data of research through questionnaire, observation, in-depth interview, and test. The data analysed by using the descriptive qualitative method.</span>

THE PROBLEM OF VALUES IN PSYCHIATRY: A CONTRIBUTION OF PHILOSOPHY TO MEDICAL EDUCATION

Even though medical ethics has recently become a rather prominent area in healthcare, there are still institutions in some European countries where mentally ill patients are treated inhumanely. In order to help abolish such institutions, it is fundamental to further emphasize human ethics and ensure that it is duly taken into account – where necessary – medical education. A deep philosophical analysis of how we can improve medical education through appropriate modern approaches has been done. Prior research has shown that implementing what we call a holistic model grounded on interdisciplinarity into higher education significantly improves and deepens the level of knowledge. Basing on the importance of educational constructivism and the integration of history and philosophy of science in science education, there is a potential to improve medical education. The research aims to present a philosophical and historical reflection on psychiatry and to provide the guidelines to improve medical education. In particular, it is discussed the problem of value-ladenness in psychiatry from two different perspectives. The first, developed by the contemporary philosopher Rachel Cooper, points out how this commitment to values not only generates questions regarding the definition and the characterization of mental disorders, but also influences the epistemology of psychiatry in empirical research and methods. The second regards the more continental-influenced philosophical thought of the Italian psychiatrist Franco Basaglia, who succeeded in changing the educational and therapeutic practices in the relationship between health workers and patient. The concept of “meeting” is fundamental to translate Basaglia’s suggestions in new guidelines for contemporary medical education. Keywords: medical education, medical ethics, philosophy of science, science education, value-ladenness in psychiatry

Effects of Preschool Teachers' Educational Constructivism Belief and Teaching Efficacy on Teacher-Infant Relationship

Effects of Preschool Teachers' Educational Constructivism Belief and Teaching Efficacy on Teacher-Infant Relationship

Chemistry Education and the Post-constructivist Perspective of Bruno Latour

Using Bruno Latour’s framework of a “collective of humans and nonhumans”, this paper presents an analysis of chemistry instruction in a high school curriculum and professional development setting to present the chemistry education community with a new way to think about reality and knowledge construction and, at the same time, to reconsider the contentious problem of constructivism and realism in chemistry education. Latour’s notion of science as a process where humans and nonhumans produce knowledge in “construction sites” enables a research and commentary project where, through the methodology of narrative case study, four different parts of Latour’s framework are considered: (1) mobilization of the world into scientific activity, (2) the use of procedures that act as “speech prostheses” where nonhumans can enter discourse, (3) the depiction of a process where small steps enable the activity of materials to circulate into the knowledge structures of the classroom, and (4) a process where humans and nonhumans have new identities constructed and stabilized through the mutual exchange of their properties. This paper presents Latour’s ideas through the research question: “What are empirical examples from chemistry education of the operation of Latour’s framework of a concept of collective of humans and nonhumans in knowledge construction?” These results support a conclusion where Latour’s collective of humans and nonhumans has the potential to support new ways to think about research and practice in chemistry education, including in ways that align with emerging feminist materialist research.

Application of Social Constructivism in Medical Education

The purpose of this study is to discuss the main principles and concepts of social constructivism, examine the literature on the application of social constructivism in medical education, and explore the meaning and limitations of the utilization of social constructivism with learning theory. A literature search was carried out in two stages, utilizing PubMed, CINAHL and Education Source databases. The first search included both fields (social constructivism AND medical education), while the second search was performed by subject (Vygotsky or ZPD or zone of proximal development or scaffolding AND medical education). A total of 96 papers were found through the first and second searches, and after reviewing the abstracts of all 96 papers, 41 papers were deemed suitable for research purposes. In medical education, social constructivism is applied in areas such as (1) social and cultural behaviors (hidden curriculum), (2) social construct of “meaning” (dialogue and discourse), (3) learner’s identity transformation (expert), and (4) instructional intervention (ZPD and scaffolding). Social constructivism has provided many ideas to explore in terms of the composition of knowledge in the sociocultural context of health care, but it has not demonstrated an explicit instructional method or educational effects.

The Efficiency of Professional Development Programs based on Social Constructivism in Improving Teaching Practices of Mathematics Teachers in Jordan

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of professional development programs based on social constructivism in improving the teaching practices of mathematics teachers. The research team developed a training program based on social constructivism in teacher education. The participants of this program included nine mathematics teachers from the Um Al-Basateen school district located in the south of the capital city, Amman. Data was collected before and after the program and certain tools of qualitative research were employed in the study. These tools included observation, interviews, and documentation. Moreover, the research team developed a measurement to evaluate the participants’ teaching practices. The measurement consisted of five levels (novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert) indicating the improvement in teaching practices. The teaching practices under evaluation were composed of six areas: teaching, learning, evaluation, classroom dialogue, knowledge resources, and mathematical content. Research findings indicated that there was a noticeable improvement in the participants’ teaching practices during the two stages of the study. Prior to the program, the teaching practices in the areas of classroom dialogue and knowledge resources were classified at the first level (novice) and in the remaining four areas, the teaching practices were classified at level two (advanced beginner). However, in the post-program stage, teaching practices in the areas of teaching, learning and classroom dialogue reached level five (expert) whereas mathematical content achieved level four (proficient). Furthermore, teaching practices in the areas of evaluation and resources reached level three (competent).

The Efficiency of Professional Development Programs based on Social Constructivism in Improving Teaching Practices of Mathematics Teachers in Jordan

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of professional development programs based on social constructivism in improving the teaching practices of mathematics teachers. The research team developed a training program based on social constructivism in teacher education. The participants of this program included nine mathematics teachers from the Um Al-Basateen school district located in the south of the capital city, Amman. Data was collected before and after the program and certain tools of qualitative research were employed in the study. These tools included observation, interviews, and documentation. Moreover, the research team developed a measurement to evaluate the participants’ teaching practices. The measurement consisted of five levels (novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert) indicating the improvement in teaching practices. The teaching practices under evaluation were composed of six areas: teaching, learning, evaluation, classroom dialogue, knowledge resources, and mathematical content. Research findings indicated that there was a noticeable improvement in the participants’ teaching practices during the two stages of the study. Prior to the program, the teaching practices in the areas of classroom dialogue and knowledge resources were classified at the first level (novice) and in the remaining four areas, the teaching practices were classified at level two (advanced beginner). However, in the post-program stage, teaching practices in the areas of teaching, learning and classroom dialogue reached level five (expert) whereas mathematical content achieved level four (proficient). Furthermore, teaching practices in the areas of evaluation and resources reached level three (competent).

The effect of cooperative learning on primary-elementary pre-service teachers’ academic achievement in Turkey: A systematic review

The aim of this study is to depict the effect of Cooperative Learning (CL) on primary-elementary pre-service teachers’ academic achievement in Turkey in a systematic review. With respect to this aim, as Turkey adopted Constructivism in education in 2005 which is the major theory underlying CL, as a time span the search was confined to the literature between 2005 and 2018. Major search data bases scanned were ULAKBİM, ERIC, Metulib, MetUnique, J-STOR, Google Scholar, EPÖDER and DergiPark, tezYÖK (national database for accessing theses). As a result of this search, based on pre-determined criteria, twelve (13) studies are included into the review. The themes emerging are as (a) comparison of cooperative learning (CL) with traditional methods (TMs), (b) comparison of different methods of CL, (d) Jigsaw as a CL method. As a result of the review, CL is found to have a significant effect on primary-elementary pre-service teachers’ academic achievement in Turkey.

“Check Your Face(Book) on Page…”: Unpacking the Pedagogical Potentialities of English Teachers’ Wall Posts

This research aimed to show an increasingly digitized world where technology continued to revolutionize how human interactions were enacted, so the teachers must transcend educational boundaries to provide quality education that was responsive to the needs of the 21st-century society. This research examined the Facebook wall postings of selected English senior high school teachers in Metro Manila, Philippines. Using thematic analysis, the research investigated and analyzes these Facebook posts (wall posts) to identify whether teachers; (1) could potentially initiate communication (student-teacher interaction, in particular online/via Facebook) and (2) used such social network site for academic/instructional purposes. Main themes identify in the student-teacher interaction are gratitude and appreciation, longing, interest, and status, while those that are recorded in the teachers’ wall posts are announcements, student activity documentation, and extra-curricular activities. The findings of this research help establish the importance of technology integration in the field of teaching and learning English as a second language. Moreover, the research is pivotal in the resurfacing of constructivism in education and the emergence of new communication norms brought about by technological innovations.

Bringing Inferentialism to Science Education

In this article, I introduce Robert Brandom’s inferentialism as an alternative to common representational interpretations of constructivism in science education. By turning our attention away from the representational role of conceptual contents and toward the norms governing their use in inferences, we may interpret knowledge as a capacity to engage in a particular form of social activity, the game of giving and asking for reasons. This capacity is not readily reduced to a diagrammatic structure defining the knowledge to be acquired. By considering the application of these ideas to the concept of electrical current and the use of analogies in science education, I hope to illustrate how they may be given practical employment as the child comes to explore within the concepts derived from historical scientific endeavours and not merely meander through her individual experiences of scientific phenomena themselves. In moving away from the representational role of analogy, our focus shifts from the quality of the analogy itself toward the quality of the discourse utilising the analogy.

구성주의 교육에 대한 철학적 비판

구성주의 교육에 대한 철학적 비판

The virtual patient as a learning tool: a mixed quantitative qualitative study

BackgroundThe use of simulation in medical education has been widely accepted. There are different types of medical simulators that vary in both accuracy to emulate the real world (fidelity) and cost of development or acquisition. There is significant evidence that supports the use of high-fidelity simulators (i.e. mannequins or dummies) to prepare students for clinical environments, less attention has been given to low-fidelity simulators. This article aims to present evidence regarding the effectiveness of a low-fidelity simulator: Virtual Patient (VP), which develops several interactive computer-based clinical scenarios, seeking to promote an alternative learning environment and the development of necessary medical skills such as clinical reasoning in students of medicine.MethodsA quasi-experimental study was designed to investigate the results on the development of history taking and clinical reasoning skills in a group of undergraduate medical students, in a course devised under the concepts of constructivism in education, which used the Virtual Patient as the fundamental teaching tool. Results were measured through a mixed, quantitative and qualitative study, triangulating the results of the students’ skills evaluation when facing a clinical case represented by an actor patient before and after the course. Additionally, the description of the students’ and tool’s performance was measured by way of a qualitative study.ResultsThe comparison of the students’ skills on the evaluation matrix before-and-after the course evidenced a statistically significant advance (p < 0.01) in all aspects (interview, physical exam, clinical judgment, relevance of medical exams, and presentation of case). Students described the VP as an easy-to-use and motivating tool for learning without stress, especially at the beginning of their career. VP allowed them to create logical and structured processes, to be wrong without consequences, and to review and reassess information available. From the professor perspective, it allowed a better follow-up of the students’ learning process and favored reflections on the teaching-learning process.ConclusionsVP proved to be a valuable and useful tool for the development of clinical reasoning and history taking skills in medical students, as part of a constructivist learning course.

Constructivism in literature education: Introduction to the thematic binder

Constructivism in literature education: Introduction to the thematic binder

Desarrollo de las habilidades cognitivo-lingüísticas en ciencias bajo la modalidad de educación virtual a distancia

En este artículo se analizan las habilidades cognitivo-lingüísticas (describir, explicar, justificar y argumentar) de cinco estudiantes en ciclo tecnológico del programa Gestión de la Producción Agroindustrial, de la Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, en convenio con Edupol, en modalidad virtual a distancia por convergencia de medios, cuando abordan procesos industriales relacionados con la química industrial. La metodología es cualitativa y los resultados muestran que en los educandos se pueden mejorar dichas habilidades, de forma sincrónica y asincrónica, desarrollando los contenidos y la escritura social a través de una comunicación dialógica que genere un entorno de aprendizaje que ponga en juego los principios del constructivismo en la educación virtual a distancia.

Constructivism in patient education: using drawings to explore preconception of coronary artery disease.

Constructivism in patient education: using drawings to explore preconception of coronary artery disease.

APIE MOKYMO (SI) PRIEMONES IR NE TIK [ABOUT TEACHING/LEARNING DEVICES AND NOT ONLY

In this introductory article the question is raised about teaching/learning devices in schools, what their mission is in the constructivist learning conditions. European Union project “Provision of schools with nature and technology science devices is introduced and information is provided about the Project internet café (http://www.vedlys.smm.lt/), which already contains activity descriptions, students’ activity sheet samples and other. Today, it is very little to know - about, today one needs to know - why, to know – how, to know – who, to know – when. Having such a situation in schools, one needs not only teachers working in a different way, but also different educational environments and the devices helping to find “different” knowledge are also necessary. Keywords: teaching/learning devices, natural education, primary school, knowledge, constructivism in education.

Constructivism in Adult Education

Constructivism is a term that takes up more space in social sciences since the second half of the 20th century, although the term itself was coines earlier, specifically in the 1920s when it signified an artistic and architectural movement in the Soviet Union. One assumption of this paper is that the activity is a central function and it is implanted in the concept of constructivism since its creation. This paper offers a brief overview of the development of term constructivism and later explains the basic epistemological assumptions on which constructivist theories are based. What is common to all constructivist theories is proactive cognition, that is, the already mentioned activity, in this case, in the process of making a meaning. Theories of adult education zhat rely on constructivist epistemology are also presented. Finally, the paper explanis the understanding of activity in teaching and the application of the constructivist principle in teaching.

Constructivism in graphic design and constructivism in education. Differences and meeting points

Esta investigación plantea una reflexión teórica sobre diferencias y afinidades entre dos constructivismos: el pictórico que, presuntamente, dio origen al diseño gráfico y el constructivismo planteado como corriente educativa. Para aclarar términos, se argumentan los usos ideales de los conceptos: educación, pedagogía y didáctica. Se explican algunas corrientes educativas previas al constructivismo en educación y se explican sus particularidades frente al constructivismo en artes. Aunque el constructivismo en las artes es una herencia de la Rusia comunista y la pedagogía constructivista tiene unas bases provenientes de la filosofía occidental, ambos conceptos tienen un punto de encuentro en la pedagogía del diseño. Las metodologías seguidas en este estudio fueron: el análisis-síntesis, la induccióndeducción y el método historiográfico. Estos enunciados teóricos se propusieron con un enfoque humanista.

The Role of the Social Constructivism in Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role/contribution that constructivist learning theories may offer to socio-cognitive development of students trough physical activity and sport. The Constructivism Theories adopt a holistic view of learning that cognition is not only an intra individual process but also a social process in which various cognizing agents/learners are inseparably intertwined. This theoretical framework offers implications for teachers and school that should help pupils to create the conditions to build knowledge moving from directive teacher-centered approaches to student-centered approaches. In this direction the body itself and social/motor interaction are seen to learn.