Kim Dinsmore Edtech. 504 Dr.

Hall 3/18/2012

Constructivism and Instructional Design

Introduction The learning theories of Jerome Bruner and John Dewey that focused on experience, discovery, and social interaction were a monumental foundation for student centered instructional design in the past few decades. The physical framework of learning management systems, resource sharing and social media facilitate discovery and social interaction. However, it is the larger framework of the internet which is the greatest medium that allows these theories to take shape in a fairly concrete fashion. Never in our history has connecting with almost anyone on the planet been such a reality. As well as people, information is now at our fingertips in a moment's notice, forever changing the need for schooling that focuses on rote memorization. With such technological possibilities, the landscape of elementary and secondary education is transforming before our eyes. Along with the transformation is a backlash from that loss of control; most states have adopted Common Core Standards and districts are increasingly adopting curricula that only focus on the standards. The push for teacher evaluation partly based on how their students do on standardized tests is certainly counter-intuitive to the transformation taking place in education today. How is an educator able to reconcile the disparity between the two camps?

In this paper, I will begin to mesh theory, design, and practical applications together to answer that question. It is certainly not an easy task, but it is one that will be increasingly vital for the future of our K-12 classrooms.

Overview of Constructivism In Constructivism, a person "creates meaning from his or her experiences" (Ertmer, 1993, p. 62). Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, felt that children's experiences affected how they came to understand the world around them (Sigelman, 1999, p. 41). It was through their inherent curiosity and attempts to solve problems that they constructed knowledge. Constructivism purports that knowledge is internally derived as opposed to handed down by an outside party. Furthermore, the interactions that a person has causes either reinforcement of his or her beliefs or challenges those beliefs. When beliefs are challenged, one needs to revise his or her understandings of life. One example is when children who, as they get older, find that their belief in Santa Claus no longer fits into their reality. It could be hearing one too many times from older siblings or friends that there is no Santa Claus. It could be seeing the various Santas at different stores. Or it could be their own unanswered questions of the nature of Santa. Either way, new information conflicts with the once held belief, and he or she adjusts their understandings to fit that reality. One does not have to be a child to construct new meanings. The last few years of working with the union has altered my own understanding of what it means for me to be conservative and a Republican. I no longer "buy" all the right wing propaganda without question. I still have lines in the sand such as abortion, but my new connections have

exposed me to the other side of the coin where I now will question the motives of politicians claiming to be moralistic. All my new experiences, mostly coming from newly formed relationships, have influenced what I believe to be true and what I hold as valuable in my life. John Dewey relates the importance of social interactions between student and teacher (Dewey, 1997). Social Constructivism focuses on experiences between people (and now non-human artifacts) creating new understandings. The modern age of social media is rife with this theory. Controversial information becomes viral in days if not minutes on such platforms as Facebook or Twitter. Depending on who or what you are reading or listening to, your schema can change in the blink of an eye. Constructivism became a large part of alternative education with Marie Montessori's novel approach to education. She gave children choices and promoted selfdirected learning. She also acknowledged the different developmental readiness of sameaged children (Montessori & Gutek, 2004, p. 31). This certainly flies in the face of all children starting Kindergarten at age 5. Perhaps in the past, and I am thinking of my own Kindergarten experience in 1969, this was not that critical as Kindergarten was a time of play and exploration. Now, a child is expected to start reading by the end of Kindergarten. An important concept in constructivism is the teacher as a guide or supporter. "You can support or scaffold learning by doing things such as reducing the complexity of a task, limiting the steps needed to solve a problem, providing cues, identifying critical errors, and demonstrating how tasks can be completed. This kind of supportive scaffolding shows students that you understand their needs and enables you to 'walk' with them as they work to meet learning goals. A key part of this support is to determine when students are ready

for a nudge and then to provide the scaffold that will support them as they make progress. As learners develop new concepts, the scaffolds are removed" (Sherman & Kurshan, 2005, p. 39). This has always been a tricky occurrence in my classroom. I want my students to think and problem solve, but I do not want them to get too frustrated where they shut down or start misbehaving. A constructivist classroom has a large potential for chaos. The key components of constructivism as being learner-centered, interesting, social, active, open-ended and supportive are all features that instructional design can use as its guiding force. Overview of Instructional Design Instructional design had its roots in war. Leaders needed an efficient way to train soldiers en mass, and drew upon cognitive theories to help design training programs (Reiser, 2001, p. 2). The rise of cognitive theories such as Behaviorism and Constructivism made its way into education in the last quarter of the 20th century. Student-centeredlearning created a need for design to facilitate learning through inquiry rather than merely provide information. Both public and private education used these theories to develop models of instruction for students. Industries outside of education also used instructional design to help train its workforce. This could have been in the form of training videos, seminars, packets or direct instruction given by management. Smith and Ragan define instructional design as the systematic process that takes learning objectives and turns them into materials, activities, resources and evaluation (Smith, 2005, p. 4). Design is specific and intentional and creates a format for concepts to be explored. There are many different models of instructional design that can be grouped into several areas of commonality such as classroom-oriented, product-oriented, and

systems-oriented. The classroom-oriented models would be used by teachers who have little design skills. The product-oriented models would be used by groups or organizations that want a packaged instructional delivery; they will have more resources and skills than a single teacher. The systems-oriented would be similar to product-oriented, but the product may be an entire course or curriculum (Gustafson, Branch, 2002). Along with the format of instructional design is the intention of learner outcome. Robert Gagne divided learning into categories: intellectual, verbal, cognitive, motor skills, and attitudes (Gagn, 1984). Design then needs to take into account the learning outcome and accommodate that outcome. If your learning outcome is to influence students' attitudes as opposed to prepare them for a formal presentation, then the structure of your design will differ greatly, even if it is the same subject matter. Instructional design has many different paths that it can take, but that path narrows slightly as one comes from the vantage point of constructivism. Influence from Constructivism on Instructional Design With the swing of education going from a teacher-centered to a student-centered environment, it is no wonder that educators are drawing heavily upon learning theories such as constructivism and creating new ones that mimic some of its core features. Connectivism, a fairly newer theory, stresses the connections that one makes in his or her life. George Siemens, a theorist who stresses connectivism in our digital age, list several levels. The first level is the actual physical connections of neurons in the brain as we learn new information and make connections with previous schema. The second level of connectivism is conceptual; as we form new connections, we gain new concepts into our framework of understanding. The third level of connectivism is social and external; people

are more aware of how they are connected to other people (Siemens, 2004). This is reminiscent of social constructivism. A big seller for constructivism is its help in getting students to care about their learning. By catering to student interest you have more buy in. "Interested students challenge their existing knowledge and are more likely to develop conceptual frameworks that integrate prior knowledge and new information into understanding. Lack of interest is generally the number one reason that students give for not learning to mastery. By focusing on students current beliefs, you increase the probabilities that students will be intrigued and explore their understandings. Technologies can be an effective tool to promote this interested and active exploration" (Sherman & Kurshan, 2005, p. 11). The ease in which the internet has made constructivism a viable means of teaching has invariably influenced instructional designers going back to the eighties and nineties. Self-directed learning needs a focused design to keep the student venturing towards the main objective, however broad that may be. These design practices need to "support the creation of powerful learning environments that optimize the value of the underlying epistemological principles" (Willis, 2009). A self-directed learner needs to find support at the time of need. This may be through various resources that the designer has allowed in the framework or through the human connections possible (instructor, peers, experts...) within the design. I have found the modules I participate in that do not have a peer-to-peer interaction are less fulfilling, and I subsequently learn less in that environment. Examples from the real world

If you look at today's distance learning community, you will find an assortment of platforms that range from hybrid classrooms to complete online delivery. There are options for synchronous or asynchronous communication, student choice and even variable time allotments. The designer that adheres to constructivist principles can draw from various design models which will best fit the outcome for learners. One example comes from Malaysia where students were enrolled in an Interactive Multimedia course. The students needed to learn multimedia project development skills over a 14-week trimester. The final interactive group project was a multimedia product authored in Macromedia Director. The students followed a process that began with group formation and problem identification and ended with presentation and reflection. Most students gave favorable comments on constructing their own learning but had difficulty with working in groups and collaboration (Neo, 2009, p. 2). I find this true even at the second grade level. My high reading students are put in a group called Literature Circle. They work collectively on novels and web-based projects. They love the aspect of having more freedom and working independently, but they often run into problems when a disagreement occurs. I am working with another group at the same time, so I am not always available to facilitate discussion. I often tell them that the number one reason they are in the group is their ability to work as a group without my assistance all the time. Most are high readers, but that is not my focus for this group; my focus is to have them develop team building skills and rely on each other as a primary resource. My own plan to implement such activities in my classroom

I hope to develop my own webpage into a more functioning platform that will house all the resources we need in second grade, but will also have an interactive component for students and parents to discuss topics throughout the year. I will probably have a link to a wiki from the page that will have more interactivity and collaboration than a static page. My ultimate goal is to have more parent involvement. Within the classroom itself, I will endeavor to have more project based learning. My students are currently involved in an animal unit where they begin by selecting an animal they are interested in. I mentioned earlier that interest is critical for deep learning and maintaining focus throughout the self-directed learning activity. They then research the animal and put that information into a slide show. They also construct a diorama of the animal's habitat. "They connect with each other as they find out interesting facts; they connect with me as they need help navigating resources; they connect with web pages as they seek out information; and they connect with tools (both digital and non-digital) to put it all together. My own guidance is light handed as I give them room to figure things out. The biggest problem lies in a potential for chaos in a less structured environment" (Dinsmore, Discussion 3 post). This year we are also taking the slides and converting them to a photo file extension then inserting them into a digital book which will be published. The students will get one free soft cover book of their animal report including their own illustrations and a picture of their diorama as one of the pages. Another way I will implement constructivism within my classroom is my use of iPads. I will soon be getting several more iPads to use in the classroom. I currently have one that rotates among the students throughout the day. I have some focused practice for them, but then they can choose an app they enjoy after the required practice. Currently my

second graders are fascinated with Presidents Versus Aliens and Stack the States. The information on these apps are fourth and fifth grade standards, but the students are absorbing it all because it is an extremely fun game, and surprisingly they adore such things as geography (they love it when I pull down the big map). I wish they would come up with an app that was as fun and teaches them regrouping! My students would stay on the iPad all day if I let them. They are fully engaged, learning and ready to tackle concepts I thought far above their abilities. Jerome Bruner, in his writing The act of Discovery mentions that if "left to himself, the child will go about discovering things for himself within limits" (p. 58). Of course, as educators, we are compelled to want them to discover what is mandated by local, state or federal requirements. The age of testing certainly puts a crimp in Bruner's philosophy, although he also mentioned that "discovery, like surprise, favors the well prepared mind" (p. 58). When do we stop preparing and when do we begin letting our students venture on their own? I imagine this is a constantly moving line depending on the student, time of day, attitude and motivation, as well as countless other variables. Conclusion My plan may take several years to fully come to fruition. The journey is sure to be bumpy, challenging, exhausting, and fulfilling. My paths will invariably snake out in different directions, and I can see that this undertaking will be my own constructivist learning. I can see that instructional design is the backbone of today's distance learning revolution. Without it, learning management systems such as Moodle and Blackboard would merely be digital bulletin boards. From its inception in constructivist theory to its

implementation in learning models, instructional design goes beyond facilitating learning and provides purpose, motivation and momentum for learning. I have the opportunity to design for my classroom that which will have a constructivist influence. I am also truly fortunate to live in an age where I have access to thousands of resources that can help me develop such a classroom. My own connections through my graduate program, my online learning communities and even my social groups have countless applications for my teaching. I hope to grow closer to being able to call my classroom a truly student-centered place where constructivism reins. The evolution of constructivism has been dramatic in the wrappings of instructional design, but the foundation has always remained the same: Let's learn.

References: Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31, 21-32. Bruner, J. S. (2006). In search of pedagogy: The selected works of Jerome Bruner. London: Routledge. Dewey, J. (1997). Experience and education. New York: Simon & Schuster. Ertmer, P.A., & Newby, T.J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50-72. Gagn, R. M. (1984). Learning outcomes and their effects: Useful categories of human performance. American Psychologist, 39(4), 377-385. Gustafson, K. L., Branch, R. M. (2002). Survey of instructional development models. Syracuse, N.Y.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology. Montessori, M., & Gutek, G. L. (2004). The Montessori method: the origins of an educational innovation: including an abridged and annotated edition of Maria Montessoris The Montessori method. Rowman & Littlefield. Neo, M. Engaging students in multimedia-mediated constructivist learning students' perceptions Educational Technology & Society, (2009). Retrieved Feb. 4, 2012, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7100/is_2_12/ai_n31584031/ Reiser, R. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part I: A history of instructional media. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49(1), 53-64. Sherman, T. M., & Kurshan, B. L. (2005). Constructing Learning: Using Technology to Support Teaching for Understanding. Learning & Leading with Technology, 32(5), 10-13. Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A theory for the digital age. Retrieved from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Sigelman, C. K. (1999). Life-span human development. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Smith, P. (2005). Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons. Willis, J. W. (2009). Constructivist instructional design (C-ID): foundations, models, and examples. IAP.