Seminar date/time: Tuesday,
October 26, 1999, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Location: Room 626 Aderhold Hall
This seminar will be presented in two parts. The first part will consider the philosophical perspective of constructivism and its relationship to instructional design. The second part will introduce participants to the concept of a microworld and everyone will explore several well-known microworlds, such as Geometer's Sketchpad, ThinkerTools, and Microworlds Project Builder. Other modeling tools will be reviewed as well, such as Interactive Physics.
This seminar will be conducted by Lloyd Rieber.
I have designed a web-based lesson on constructivism. Please review this lesson and be sure to try your hand at SimSchool, a light-hearted simulation about educational philosophy.
Background
Applications of Constructivism to Instructional Design
Three baseball umpires and their different interpretations of reality:
Umpire 1: "I calls 'em the way I sees 'em."
Umpire 2: "I calls 'em the way they are!"
Umpire 3 (definitely a constructivist): "They ain't nothing till I calls 'em!"
A Comment by the famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein:
From Rieber (1994), p. 214-215:
There is a story that someone once commented to philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that people living in medieval Europe before the time of Copernicus must have been pretty stupid to have believed that the sun actually circled the Earth and that common sense should have told them the opposite was true. Wittgenstein is said to have agreed, but also wondered what it would have looked like if the sun had been circling the Earth -- the point being that it would have looked exactly the same to most people. The idea that the Earth was at the center of the universe was just as "true" to these people as the concept that the Earth orbits the sun is to us. Information does not become knowledge just by its telling.
It is tempting to believe that we, living today, somehow know the real truth about the world, that we are somehow better informed that those poor, ignorant folks who lived many years ago. Ours is the real science, right? But before you answer this question, you need to examine your beliefs, even those of supposedly "objective" truths from mathematics and science. How do you really know that the Earth goes around the sun? Just as Wittgenstein observed, our perceptions tell us something very different, yet we have come to accept another fact as being true and our perceptions as being false. All too often, we teach people something as being "true" without considering what this really means at the individual level. Much education is involved in "telling" people what to believe. However, true understanding cannot be imposed on someone, but instead must come about by a personal revelation (Bruner, 1990).
Defining Constructivism: Is it a theory, philosophy, or something else?
From the Studio handbook (p. 7):
"Faculty in our department have generally held a constructivist perspective on teaching and learning. While it is difficult to adequately summarize this perspective here, it is based on several core ideas: 1) learning is an active process in which meaning is constructed by each individual; 2) learning is a social activity founded on collaboration and mutual respect of different viewpoints; 3) learning is embedded in the building of artifacts that are shared and critiqued by one's peers."
From von Glasersfeld (1993, p. 24-25), on answering the question "What are the differences between constructivism and idealism? Is the distinction a qualitative one?
Idealism holds that the mind and its constructs are the only reality. Constructivism holds that we can know only what our minds construct but that its constructing is not free (ad lib): just as some ways of acting "work" and others do not, so some of our conceptual constructs and theories work and others do not. For constructivism, the fact that something works (is "viable" does not mean that it therefore is a representation of that "real" world that prevents other things from working. The "real" world remains unknowable no matter how well we manage in the domain of our experience. (This, by the way, also differentiates constructivism from pragmatism with which it has much in common.)
(This chapter is an excellent introduction to constructivism for in it von Glaserfeld answers a wide array of questions pertaining to constructivism in short and easy to read answers.)
From Jonassen, 1991:
Compare assumptions in Table 1 (p. 9) about the nature of reality, mind, thought, meaning, and symbols for objectivism and constructivism.
"Constructivism claims that reality is more in the mind of the knower, that the knower constructs a reality, or at least interprets it, based upon his or her apperceptions." (p. 10)
"Constructivism does not preclude the existence of an external reality; it merely claims that each of us constructs our own reality through interpreting perceptual experiences of the external world." (p. 10)
"Radical constructivists believe that there is no real world, no objective reality that is independent of human mental activities." (p. 10)
"The important epistemological assumption of constructivism is that meaning is a function of how the individual creates meaning from his or her experiences." (p. 10)
From Kent Gustafson (in a book chapter he is currently writing):
"Constructivism, like behaviorism and cognitivism has many adherents presenting somewhat different perspectives. We base this definition on the writings of Duffy and Cunningham (1996). According to those authors, constructivists believe that learning requires active construction rather than acquisition of knowledge by the learner and that instruction involves supporting that construction rather than communicating knowledge. They state that there are two main branches of constructivism: cognitive and social cultural. Cognitive constructivists consider learning from the perspective of each unique individual whereas social cultural contructivists consider learning from the perspective of the individual-within-the group. Consequently, cognitive constructivists consider learning to be a process of "active cognitive reorganization" from existing knowledge whereas social cultural constructivists consider it as "acculturation into an established community of practice" (Duffy & Cunningham, 175). Thus, the role of community in determining both the curriculum and "instructional" methods varies between the two perspectives. However, both believe that knowledge is individually constructed and that there is no external "truth." Formal learning environments can only be expected to achieve consensus, but not congruence among learners and with the instructor."
Some of Lloyd's attempts:
From Rieber (1993): "Constructivism consists of three properties: epistemic conflict, self-reflection, and self-regulation." (p. 197) ......... "Proponents of constructivism emphasize the quality of knowledge structures over their quantity. Learning is viewed not so much as the acquisition of knowledge but as the constant reconstruction of what is already known. Individuals do not simply add information to their knowledge 'banks.' They either revise existing mental structures to accept new information or formulate new structures based on old ones when an existing structure is no longer sufficient." (p. 198)
From Computers, Graphics, and Learning (1994): "Constructivists believe that each of us defines the world (and ourselves) by what we know and believe. Each person perceives and interprets the world in a unique way. Instead of suggesting that knowledge can be 'transferred' from one person to another, information from the environment is used as 'building blocks' for individuals to 'construct' knowledge. This construction process is believed to be a natural consequence of meaningful interaction with one's environment, or 'culture'. One's knowledge is never static, but dynamic and ever-changing" (p. 215)
From the "Project KID DESIGNER" article: "The project is constructivist in nature, a term used metaphorically (and often times haphazardly) in education to refer to learning as a process where individuals construct their own knowledge through meaningful interactions with the world. Learning is considered an active, controllable process that builds upon a student's prior knowledge and is grounded in meaningful, social contexts (Hooper & Rieber, 1995). This view is contrasted with "transmission models" of education which view learning as passing knowledge from one person (e.g. teacher) to another (e.g. student) (Grabinger, 1996). Modern interpretations of constructivism have been influenced by the work of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Dewey (see Duffy & Cunningham, 1996, for a review). "
Contrasting Constructivism with Seymour Papert's (1991) concept of Constructionism:
"Constructionism - the N word as opposed to the V word - shares constructivism's connotation of learning as 'building knowledge structures' irrespective of the circumstances of the learning. It then adds the idea that this happens especially felicitously in a context where the learner is engaged in constructing a public entity, whether it's a sand castle on the beach or a theory of the universe" (p. 1).
The other point of view from Burton, Moore, & Magliaro (1996):
"Constructivism, the notion that meaning (reality) is made, is currently touted as a new way of looking at the world. In fact, there is nothing in any form of behaviorism that requires realism, naive or otherwise. The constructive nature of perception has been accepted at least since Helmholtz (1866) and his notion of 'unconscious inference'." (p. 47)
"Probably no psychologist in the modern era has been as misunderstood, misquoted, misjudged, and just plain maligned as B.F. Skinner and his form of Skinnerian, or radical, behaviorism." (p. 62).
- A small, but complete subset of a domain.
- Simple model of a domain which is recognized by an expert in that domain.
- Offers novices with a "doorway" to the domain through experiential learning.
- General, useful, and syntonic
- Provides learners with "objects to think with."
- Facilitates the "debugging" process.
- Can be considered an interactive "conceptual model."
- General reliance on self-regulated learning: 1) learning is intrinsically motivating; 2) learners are metacognitively and behaviorally active
Some Design Considerations for Microworld
- Provide a meaningful learning context that supports intrinsically motivating and self-regulated learning.
- Establish a pattern whereby the learner goes from the "known to the unknown."
- Provide a balance between deductive and inductive learning.
- Emphasize the usefulness of errors.
- Anticipate and nurture incidental learning.
Malone's Suggestions for Game Design
- Design every game with a clear and simple goal.
- Design games with uncertain outcomes.
- Structure the game so that players can increase or decrease the difficulty to match their skill and interest.
- Design the game with layers of complexity and a broad range of possible challenges.
Lloyd' Top 10 List of CAI Design
Burton, J. K., Moore, D. M., & Magliaro, S. G. (1996). Behaviorism and instructional technology. In D. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology, (pp. 46-73). Washington, DC: Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
Duffy, T. M., & Cunningham, D. J. (1996). Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction. In D. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology, (pp. 170-198). Washington, DC: Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
Jonassen, D. (1991). Objectivism versus constructivism: Do we need a new philosophical paradigm? Educational Technology Research & Development, 39(3), 5-14.
Papert, S. (1991). Situating constructionism. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism, (pp. 1-11). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Rieber, L. P. (1992). Computer-based microworlds: A bridge between constructivism and direct instruction. Educational Technology Research & Development, 40(1), 93-106.
Rieber, L. P. (1993). A pragmatic view of instructional technology. In K. Tobin (Ed.), The practice of constructivism in science education, (pp. 193-212). Washington, DC: AAAS Press.
Rieber, L. P. (1994). Computers, graphics, and learning. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark.
Rieber, L. P. (1996). Seriously considering play: Designing interactive learning environments based on the blending of microworlds, simulations, and games. Educational Technology Research & Development, 44(2), 43-58.
Rieber, L. P., Luke, N., & Smith, J. (1998). Project KID DESIGNER: Constructivism at work through play. Meridian: Middle School Computer Technology Journal [On-line], 1(1). Available http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/index.html
Rieber, L. P., & Parmley, M. W. (1995). To teach or not to teach? Comparing the use of computer-based simulations in deductive versus inductive approaches to learning with adults in science. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 13(4), 359-374.
Rieber, L. P., Smith, L., & Noah, D. (1998). The value of serious play. Educational Technology, 38(6), 29-37.
von Glasersfeld, E. (1993). Questions and answers about radical constructivism. In K. Tobin (Ed.), The practice of constructivism in science education, (pp. 23-38). Washington, DC: AAAS Press.