Learning Log (Ch.7)

What?
Today we talked about knowledge construction. This chapter was very interesting to me. The definition of learning constructivism is learning an active process in which learners construct their own memory, focusing in on that active process that we are creating our own knowledge. We talked about the metaphor for social constructivism is like a Aspen tree root. The root shoots everywhere, and is exploring and finding good soil and food for the tree. Social constructivism is like that in that it is exploring and finding own definitions of knowledge. We talked about how we can build knowledge based on others knowledge. We use schema's to find a connection, we can also use scripts to to complete a task. The chapter also includes change and conceptional change. Promoting change is a difficult process, one must identify existing misconceptions before instruction begins, convince students that their existing beliefs are inadequate, motivate students to learn correct explanations, maintain self-esteem, and monitor what students say and write for persistent misconceptions.

So What?
This information is important because students will come into my class every day that learn best or have been taught through social constructivism, I will need to be able to recognize this learning theory and implement it into my teaching. It is also good to know that change can be good and that as a teacher I need to encourage change.

Now What?
Now that I know this information I can begin to implement it into my teaching strategies. I now know how to recognize and implement change in my classroom. I can also add social constructivism into my own personal learning theory and implement parts that I believe will help students learn best in my classroom.