The Constructivist Model and Education
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Ideally, the purpose of education should be to develop not only the intellectual aspect of the children, but also their moral and emotional qualities (Kohn, 1994, p. 280). Therefore, schools should not just churn out human beings with verbal and computational skills to acquire jobs in the real world (O'Malley, 1998, p. 14). They should build on the children's innate desire to learn and explore. Thus, teachers should create learning activities that fully engage the interest of the students in order to capitalize on their natural desire to learn. However, in reality, educators are split into two camps in their beliefs about educating children: tradition versus constructivism. In the traditional system, the teacher is the only active agent in the classroom transmitting knowledge to students who are expected to absorb information passively. In this system, competition, grades and standardized testing are upheld as the means to monitor the students' performance (Kohn, 1994, p. 278). On the other hand, in the constructivist model, collaborative and interactive methods are used to encourage students to challenge and consider different perspectives (Taylor & Walton, 1997, p. 69). In this paper, these two models will be discussed and analyzed for their effectiveness in educating and motivating children to learn. Young children have an inherent ability and desire to explore and learn about the world. Therefore, in some ways, they learn many things on their own, especially through pla
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o learn. The teacher must create important guidelines and rules in order to ensure that children are not working in a chaotic environment without any sense of control. Furthermore, the teacher is there to enforce any breach of the guidelines by the students. With the teacher's approval and supervision, the students can make decisions about their education experience so that they will be motivated in their learning experience (Kohn, 1994, p. 287). Therefore, the children serve as a vital source of information for the teachers in creating dynamic learning activities to capture their interest. Teachers need to listen to their students in order to create optimal learning environments for them, which take into consideration their needs and their developmental levels (Glascott & Crews, 1998, p. 233). When children challenge or disagree with their teachers in a constructive way by providing an alternative solution, they should be heard by the teachers.
In her article, Patricia Wasley (1999) offers a perfect example of a group learning activity as she depicts her revealing experience of working with a class of fifth- and sixth- graders on a project. Although the children were allowed to choose their topic, Wasley and the class teacher p
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Taylor Walton, Patricia Wasley, , Bill Rights, Childhood Education, Glascott Crews, Delta Kappan, Gorham Maine, References Balke, kohn 1994, May-June Encouraging, learning experience, balke 1997, wasley 1999, walton 1997, o'malley 1998, taylor walton 1997, childhood education, taylor walton, traditional system, phi delta kappan, desire learn,
Approximate Word count = 1532
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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