1. Constructivism and its influence on the teaching of science in various grades
Constructivism is an outlook of learning where it is believed that learning or knowledge is not just acquired by a learner from the instructor or the teacher in the classroom, with the learners just sitting and getting it from the teacher. Rather, knowledge is believed to be build by the students via vigorous, intellectual course of development. It is believed that the person learning is the one creating the knowledge and meaning. Analyst Twomey Fosnot (1989) says that learning is build up from what we already know, and we do this by taking new ideas in relation with what we know, and then accept them and put them together with the present knowledge to come up with a much better result that has more meaningful and clear explanation (Orland-Barak,2010).
One component that examines constructivism and its influence on the teaching on various science grade levels, is the changing of the educational, or teaching curriculum; where instead of believing that a teacher’s job is to stand in front of students and supply them with information as they passively listen and obtain information, the students/learners are vigorously involved and play a major part in trying to discover more about their learning. The learners in the process are interested in getting clear knowledge and understanding of what is being discovered during the practice of learning.
2. Describe how the theory of constructivism supports learning through inquiry:
The theory supports learning, because as the teachers search for more information and knowledge on how they can improve their teaching skills, they gain experience on a learning surrounding that assist them to follow and invent their personal questions, come up with and utilize resources, join forces with their colleagues, and hence continually extending and deepening their thinking. Therefore, they come up with better understanding of the supporting materials that are required to extend their students’ growth. This is an interesting kind of training model for teachers that are offered by CCSE College in the city of New York. Teachers, who train in a school/college of this kind, are usually availed with materials such as plants, insects, animals, science equipment and even building materials among many other things. Since it is institution for learning which is open-ended, it allows the teachers their anxieties, questions, and interests to limit their learning’s course. They then create and effect a project of (Payne, 2009).
Once the teachers have gone through the course that trains them on how they can help their students in constructivism through inquiry, it is then easy for them to do the work using the inquiry form. This is a more helpful way of learning whereby the teachers are able to assess and test the students by way of inquiry. In this process the teacher may use the same materials they trained with, to test the minds of the learners. For instance, a teacher ask questions like (a)what is the name of the material and what is it made of or used for (Tobin,1993). Depending on the answers from the learners, the teacher can tell how well, first or slow the mind and thinking capacity of the student is. With those results, the teacher will now be able to know what step she/he should take next. The inquiry process is a good one as it automatically tests the knowledge and mind development of a learner, giving the teacher the answer and a quick chance to decide the next step to be taken.
References:
Orland-Barak, L. (2010). Learning to Mentor-as-Praxis: Foundations for a Curriculum in
Teacher Education. New York: Routledge
Payne R, C. (2009). Information technology and constructivism in higher education: progressive
learning frameworks. New York, NY: Idea Group Inc (IGI).
Tobin G, K. (1993). The Practice of constructivism in science education. New York, NY:
Routledge.
