Blog #2

We just delved into Constructivism—for some of you, this seems intuitive. Still, my guess is that for most of you this was not typical of your K-12 (or even some higher-ed) experiences. What does Constructivism, as you understand it so far, mean to you? Reflect on your past as a student and how you hope to apply this concept (or not apply it, as the case may be) in your career as a teacher.

My understanding of Constructivism is that it is a very open learning environment that encourages students to explore and come up with solutions on their own. It also seems like it would involve a lot of trial and error on the students part; this will make them figure out different ways to do something rather than the teacher just telling them one specific way to solve a problem. I also think that Constructivism encourages group work and students collaborating to discover different ways to solve a problem or answer a question.

Since I want to become an ECE teacher, I hope to use Constructivism in my class room as much as possible to encourage a passion for learning and exploring in my students from the very beginning. Hopefully, if I am successful in doing this, my students will enjoy learning and want to learn instead of just learning because they are forced to go to school.

I wish that more of my teachers would have used Constructivism in their classrooms. I think this would have made going to school a lot more fun instead of sitting and listening to lectures all day. Also, I hope that I, as a teacher, do not get stuck in a rut of using worksheets and busy work to fill up my class time. I hope that I can be a teacher that inspires kids to want to learn and to enjoy going to school.