Learning Theories - Constructivism

Week one we had to conduct a bit of research to find out a bit about constructivism, which I found intregingly interesting. I have joined a group to research topic with Kristi and Louise on constructivism and added a little something to the page. I couldn't do much because they had already done a wonderful job of covering everything. Before now, I had absolutely no clue to what constructivism is, but now, I have a fair understanding.
Constructivism is when the teacher acts as a guide in the classroom, so the students can develop skills, such as reflective thinking, when asked to look for answers themselves. Children engage in group activites to discover an answer themselves while the teacher looks over and acts a guide, then the class discusses what they have found and build on that knowledge.

"The dominant 'progressive/constructivist' philosophy in education schools leads to teacher training that prescribes a student-centered classroom where the teacher's role is to serve mainly as a facilitator for student-directed learning. Under that philosophy it is regarded as bad practice for teachers to actually do much teaching. They are supposed to act as 'the guide on the side' rather than 'the sage on the stage.' Claimed by George K. Cunningham Ph.D on illinoisloop.org (http://www.illinoisloop.org/whatswrong.html).

This course got me to examine these readings in greater depth to show that I have understood what the topic means and to brainstorm why these learnings are used. It would be useful in my teaching context, as children need to be able to learn the ability of a thinking process. Comparing it online to in the classroom, children could have more opportunities online as all their information is there for them to learn. However, it is also important for a child to be productive in a classroom, so they can interact and voice their opinion. This activity was designed to be behaviourist, constructivist and connectivism. The reason behind this thinking is because this activity showed my feelings toward the learning theory wiki, got me to brainstorm and research information on this particular topic and it also got me to connect with other ideas that were brainstormed throught the group. This can support children who struggle to brainstorm by helping them by discussing ideas instead of just teaching it to them. The PMI scaffold that we used can also be a thinking routine as it gets you to think about one particular point of view instead of looking at the one. This would be useful in my own classroom, teaching children not to just look at one point of view, but a wide range of views.