PRESENTATION TO

THE BOARD OF
EDUCATION

EDU 5103: Educational Governance and Policy

Professor McGuire
Nancy Carney, Christopher Gitz, Donald Murphy
Constructivist education refers to the idea that
learners construct knowledge for themselves---each
learner individually (and socially) constructs
meaning---as he or she learns. Constructing meaning
is learning; there is no other kind. The dramatic
consequences of this view are twofold:

•focus on the learner in thinking about learning (not

on the subject/lesson to be taught)

•there is no knowledge independent of the meaning

attributed to experience (constructed) by the learner,
or community of learners.
 ASSESSMENT IN THE
CONSTRUCTIVIST CLASSROOM
Brooks and Brooks (1993) describe what assessment in a constructivist
classroom looks like: Rather than saying "No" when a student does not give
the exact answer being sought, the constructivist teacher attempts to
understand the student's current thinking about the topic. Through
nonjudgmental questioning, the teacher leads the student to construct new
understanding and acquire new skills. Constructivists believe that
assessment should be used as a tool to enhance both the student's
learning and the teacher's understanding of the student's current
understanding. It should not be used as an accountability tool that makes
some students feel good about themselves and causes others to give up.

Practices of
Constructivism
Jerome Bruner
Constructivist
Classroom
A major theme in the theoretical
framework of Bruner is that
learning is an active process in
which learners construct new
ideas or concepts based upon
their current/past knowledge.
The learner selects and
transforms information,
constructs hypotheses, and
makes decisions, relying on a
cognitive structure to do so.
Cognitive structure (i.e., schema,
mental models) provides
meaning and organization to
experiences and allows the
individual to "go beyond the
information given".
 Jerome Bruner
Constructivist
Classroom
As far as instruction is concerned, the
instructor should try and encourage
students to discover principles by
themselves. The instructor and
student should engage in an active
dialog (i.e., Socratic learning). The
task of the instructor is to translate
information to be learned into a
format appropriate to the learner's
current state of understanding.
Curriculum should be organized in a
spiral manner so that the student
continually builds upon what they
have already learned.
Jerome Bruner
Constructivist Classroom
Bruner (1966) states that a theory of instruction should address
four major aspects:

(3)predisposition towards learning,

(4)the ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured so that
it can be most readily grasped by the learner,
(5) the most effective sequences in which to present material
(6) the nature and pacing of rewards and punishments. Good
methods for structuring knowledge should result in simplifying,
generating new propositions, and increasing the manipulation of
information.
Jerome Bruner
Constructivist Classroom

Example: Bruner (1973):

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, "The concept of prime numbers appears
17, 19, 23, 29, 31, to be more readily grasped when the
37, 41, 43, 47, 53, child, through construction, discovers
59, 61, 67, 71, 73, that certain handfuls of beans cannot be
79, 83, 89, 97, laid out in completed rows and columns.
101, 103, 107, Such quantities have either to be laid out
109, 113, 127, in a single file or in an incomplete row-
131, 137, 139, column design in which there is always
149, 151, 157, one extra or one too few to fill the
163, 167, 173, pattern. These patterns, the child learns,
179, 181, 191, happen to be called prime. It is easy for
193, 197, 199, the child to go from this step to the
etc. recognition that a multiple table , so
called, is a record sheet of quantities in
completed multiple rows and columns.
Reducing the Risk: Schools
as Communities of Support
INNOVATION

In Discussing Alternative Schools, Wehlage

states, “These schools should be places of
innovation providing models of curriculum and
teaching particularly effective with at-risk
students.” (Wehlage, p. 227)

“TEAL”
Classroom at
MIT
Reducing the Risk: Schools
as Communities of Support
CLASS SIZE

“The alternative
schools we studied
offered valuable
insights into the
importance of small
size and the degree
of autonomy and
flexibility needed by
educators.”
(Wehlage, p.231)
Reducing the Risk: Schools
as Communities of Support
CURRICULUM

“New directions in
testing and evaluation
should be encouraged,
including student Classroom of the Future?
exhibitions such as
portfolios, and public
displays through
performances,
presentations and
products.” (Wehlage,
p.233)