Thoughts on Social Constructivism

Social constructivism considers that knowledge is socially constructed. Students socially build, share, and agree upon knowledge. By exchanging and sharing with others, ideas are formed and learning occurs. Learning is dialog. Dialog is learning. The basic priniciples of social constructivism include:

· Social interaction plays a central role in human development.
· Tool mediates between social and dividual functioning.
· Internal activities (internalisation) and external activities(externalisation) mutually transform one another.

Social constructivism emphasizes that learning is an active process mediated by social interaction. Conceptual growth comes from the sharing of multiple perspectives and negotiation of those perspectives through individual and collective experiences.

Lev Vygotsky thought that human development occurs on two planes. First it appears on social plane, and then on individual plane. Social interaction is the cornerstone in human development. In knowledge construction, social and individual processes are intertwined and interdependent. “Individual consciousness is built from the outside through relations with others” (Kozulin, 1986, p. xxiii-xxiv).

Internal activity (internalisation) and external activity (externalisation) are mutually transformed. The dual concept of internalization and externalization is used to explain the mutual transformation between the social world and the personal world. Human mind functions as both a social and a personal system.

Piaget insisted that development concepts should not be taught to children until children reach the appropriate development stage. Opposite of Piaget’s theory, Vygotsky believed that children can do more with the help of an adult or of capable peers than they can do by themselves (Zone of Proximal Development). Piaget believed that the most important source of cognition is located within the children themselves. Vygotsky argued that the social environment plays an essential role in the child's cognitive development.

All of you have experiences in online discussions. Online discussions provide a social environment for knowledge negotiation. You are exposed to multiple perspectives on an issue.

In the process of discussions, there is constant mutual transformation between individual cognition (internalization) to social cognition (externalization) and back to individual cognition (internalization). You think through the issue and externalize your thoughts. Through negotiation, the group reaches the consensus (social cognition). You then engage in individual reflection of the knowledge transacted and internalize the knowledge.

Discussions move you closer and closer to social cognition – the negotiated knowledge. Remember the story Six Men and the Elephant? Each of the men constructs his own knowledge. However, their knowledge representation is not complete. Without meaningful negotiation, intellectual chaos occurs.

Online discussion forums are the tool that mediates your discussions. Online discussion differs from fleeting oral discussions. In face to face discussions, logics and mistakes tend to get away and escape the notice. There is no record left about the discussion for anybody to study and examine.

Text-based discussions leave a permanent record about what one has written. You have time to read, think, compose, examine and reflect upon what one has said. Does the online discussion tool alter your flow of thinking? It is the question that you should be able to answer now.

Thoughts on Cognitivism

Cognitivism believes that knowledge is organized. By using various mental representations, human minds are capable of structuring knowledge and generating limitless further representations. For instance, here is a driver’s license “1B1684T”. What is the best way to remember it? One can repeat it continuously and probably will remember it. However, the most effective way is to use “association” skills to form a structure and store the structure in one's memory. One might say “Number 1 in Birmingham (1B). Then one might identify the relationships among numbers. 16 is 2x8. 8 is 2x4 (1684). “T” can refer to a “teacher” if it happens that one is a teacher. Now it is a lot easier for one to remember this driver’s license.

Cognitivism views learning as knowledge transmission. It is the teacher-centered approach. The teachers’ job is to facilitate the formation of cognitive structures in learners’ minds. The teacher uses various mental representations to facilitate knowledge transmission. These methods include "association", categorization", "comparison", "contrast" and etc. I need to emphasize that we do learn from good lectures, although we do not learn only from lectures. A successful classroom keeps a good balance between the teacher-centered approach and student-centered approach. I remember a physics teacher who always used daily examples to illustrate difficult concepts. In one class, he said: “You are thirty. The water in the cup is hot. What do you often do? You blow at it for a while before you drink it. It shows that temperature is related to flow of air.” Years later, I still remember his lectures.

The following postings are from group discussions in a previous class. The group conducted a discussion on various cognitive strategies to facilitate student learning of course materials. These postings are about a memory enhancing strategy – Mnemonics.

Posting #1
Mnemonic devices are an important Cognitivist tool. I still use mnemonic devices to remember information all the time. Can you think of an example of a mnemonic device for your content area? This might be something useful for the lesson plan for this unit.

Posting #2
Mnemonics is a great memory enhancing strategy that involves teaching students to link new information that is taught to information they already know. It doesn’t require a wealth of material and does not require extensive planning (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1998). Even though students in early grades are not usually expected to learn and recall as many facts as older students, they are involved in a number of activities that involve making associations that could use mnemonic devices. One example I can think of is the link between letters to words; such as “a” stands for “apple” or “f” for “flower”. Another example is teaching students that the shape of the letter “s” looks like a snake, which also begins with that letter. I have also used mnemonics when teaching new vocabulary by having the students think of what the specific letter formation of parts of the new word remind them of. One example is- the word medicine has two letter “i”’s and those two “i”’s resemble two pills. Mnemonics helps me memorize important information needed for tests. I use this strategy frequently!

Posting #3
My content area is English. I only remember one really memorable mnemonic device. A professor in college did a demonstration to illustrate the definition of melodrama. It might be hard to describe in text, but I'll try. She folded up a piece of loose leaf paper, accordion style and pinched it in the middle (so it looked like a bow). Then she held it above her lips like a mustache and said in a deep voice, "YOU MUST PAY THE RENT!!!" Then she moved the paper bow to the top of her head and said in a high pitched voice, "But I can't pay the rent!" She went back and forth like this for a while. Obviously she looked like an idiot, but she did effectively demonstrate the term melodrama. Also, it was hilarious. The humor only made it easier for the students to learn! I have never forgotten that demonstration...or the definition of melodrama!

Posting #4
I experienced a terrific mnemonic device yesterday while observing a US Government teacher at Hoover High School. She is teaching her twelfth grade class the 27 amendments She went through many suggestions, but when she got to 18 and 21 this was her advice: In the US it is PROHIBITED for 18 year-olds to drink alcohol, therefore remember that the 18th amendment was the Prohibition amendment. Then when a person turns 21 the are allowed to drink alcohol so the ban has been repealed; therefore, the 21st amendment is the Repealing of the Prohibition amendment. I had never before heard it said like that, but I bet I will never forget it. Plus the way she presented it with fun and vigor, class movement, her movement, etc. Impressive! The whole class was mnemonics to remember, and not a student probably realized they were even learning!

Posting #5
Mnemonics are a great strategy for students to enhance their memory. I once did a lesson on the order of operations in math. I used the famous "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" to teach the order. Students were quick to learn the order and had no problems doing the math that I put before them. I also used a mnemonic device to teach the planets. "My Very Elderly Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" of course is the phrase in which most people use to remember the planets. I introduced this to the students and then challenged them to come up with their own phrase. The results really surprised me. Then when I quizzed them the next day, I asked the students to write the names of the planets in order and said I would give extra credit if they could write their original phrase. Again I was surprised, because every student remembered their phrase and the planets.

By viewing cognitive learning software listed in the course, you might notice that cognitive learning software encourages students to identify patterns and generate patterns. Students can also use the software to create their own pattern exercises. Graphic organizers are efficient concept mapping tools that make it easier for students to organize and structure information. Graphic organizers allow student to visually display relationships between information and thus create a mental representation to be stored in the mind.

Computer tutorials take cognitivist approaches. I have had a positive experience with a piece of tutorial software. I learned Lotus Spreadsheet from this piece of software. It was my first semester as a graduate student in the United States. I was feeling nervous and uncertain. I took a statistics course and needed to use the software in my class. By chance, I located a piece of software which tutored Lotus Spreadsheet. I started the tutoring at night. I liked the software. I felt very relaxed in this learning environment. There was nobody around me. I could concentrate on my learning. The computer tutor was tireless and patient. I could have it repeat the tutoring as many times as possible. Though patient, this tutor was sharp and strict. A “warning” beep would pull my wandering thoughts back onto the right track. By the time the class met again, I was quite ahead of the class in my skills in operating Lotus Spreadsheet.

Cognitivism is teacher-centered approach. All the learning activities are designed and controlled by the teacher. Students can be grouped together to do exercises, for example, to play a simulation game. However, they are mainly following the instructions given by the teacher or the software program in completing the task. There is very limited knowledge construction taking place. Cognitivism does not necessarily exclude group work. It depends on what students do in groups.

In conclusion, I think the class did well in the discussions on cognitivism. I hope these discussions help you design your cognitivist projects.