Educational Psychology: Constructivism

"As long as there were people asking each other questions, we have had constructivist classrooms. Constructivism, the study of learning, is about how we all make sense of our world and that really hasn't changed"- Jacqueline Grennon Brook

Opening of classes is now near and it's been a long time since I last posted about educational psychology. My last post was about behaviorism and now I would like to discuss the, shall I say, opposite of it- constructivism.

Unlike behaviorism, constructivism deals with learning as an active process, internal or external. This proposes that students construct their own meaning and understanding about the world by experiences and reflecting on these experiences. Learners then try to reconcile their newly acquired experiences or ideas to the previous and old ones. In short, learners are the creators or active constructors of their own knowledge/learning. Learning is seen as interactive, and is grounded upon on what the students already know. The knowledge being acquired is considered as dynamic, always changing together with experiences.

In a constructivist classroom, active teaching methods that require students to think are dominant. Students are taught not "what to learn", rather "how to learn. Teaching techniques like experiments, inquiry, problem solving, open discussion and the like are utilized by the teacher. These are being done because student questions, experiences and interests are given importance, thus there is freedom in sharing questions and ideas to the whole class.

Constructivism is advantageous to learning since learners are actively involved. It concentrates on thinking rather than simple memory or recall. It makes learning personal among the learners since they are given chances to share what they already know or what they have experienced. For this reason, social and communication skills are also developed.
Famous constructivist psychologists include Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Jerome Bruner, etc. Haist...out of characters...

Gestalt Psychology

        Hello... It has been a while since I posted about education  and LET-related topics. I honestly lost my drive updating this blog since I was banned from my advertising provider because of a simple and honest mistake. I was a bit frustrated by the fact that I could have earn even just a small amount of bucks through page views and impressions. Nevertheless, upon reading some comments I have just read, I am inspired to write more education topics just for the sake of helping future teachers to survive college life and even pass(or top) the LET. Just recently, I am hooked into physics (as if...) and I am really inspired by physicist Brian Greene and his book entitled The Fabric of the Cosmos. Aside from fantastic and splendid things I learned about the cosmos, I am really awed and amazed (and a bit jealous) by how Brian Greene explains the mind-blogging topics of cosmology and physics. I am in one way or another (as if...) shared his style and intention to explain things as simply as possible. His book is a must-read even for a math-o-phobic people and is not into science. I tell you, you will turn your view about the universe and reality upside-down.
     Now going back to my usual education topics, let me explain to you one of my favorite theories in learning and psychology---Gestalt Psychology. From the name itself, I really find the theory mysterious and enigmatic. Some education students wonder how this theory applies to education when in fact most of the classroom practices most teachers do are rooted from this theory.
      Gestalt psychology is a holistic approach to learning that emphasizes the entirety rather than individual parts (The whole is greater than the sum of its parts is the cliche of this theory but the original phrase is "the whole is other than the sum of the parts"). According to this theory, the brain thinks in whole, in parallel, in analog, and with self-organizing tendencies. This implies that learning is consists of the grasping of a structural whole and not just a mechanistic response to a stimulus. Learners are viewed as active participants, restructuring information they perceive in order to understand it.
     Gestalt psychologists suggests that learners' perception is guided by principles or laws. These are:

Law of Proximity

Law of Pragnanz

Law of Similarity

Law of Continuity

Law of Closure

Law of Figure/Ground

Foreground tend to be perceived and paid attention first. A stimulus will be perceived as separate from its ground.

Now, the question is, how can we apply these principles to teaching? Hmmmm... Watch out for my next post about the application of this theory in the teaching and learning process.

Images retrieved from:  http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws.htm