Learning Theories

The constructivist learning theory sees students as coming to the learning environment as
though they have already experienced life and have information to share with the class.
Furthermore, optimal learning is a didactic, two way process which needs to be engaging to
both the teacher and the students. The teacher can achieve this by making students active
participants in authentic and meaningful tasks through a constructivist ideology. Examples of
constructivism include role playing, debating, cooperative learning in groups and real world
activities.
1. Learning is an active process
Through encouraging student interaction, both with material, fellow students and with
ICT applications, learning will become an active process. According to research
teaching others, practicing by doing and having discussions with others are how
students are most likely to retain information. This is why we will be utilising these
techniques in our lessons.
2. Knowledge is constructed, rather than innate, or passively absorbed
Following on, we will be requiring our students to be actively engaged in their own
learning and to find information for themselves. Again, in the process of students
finding their own knowledge it is more likely that it will be remembered.
3. Knowledge is invented not discovered
As all students come to the learning environment with prior experience and
knowledge it stands to reason that students will then invent information for
themselves that is relevant to them in that time and place. Different material presented
in the lessons will be a new discovery to different students at different times
depending on their previous knowledge.

4. All knowledge is personal and idiosyncratic and is socially constructed

Knowledge is constructed in social settings and in collaboration with other students,

our lessons will be designed so that students have opportunities to interact as much as
possible with others. For example in the second lesson, students will be working in
pairs to complete a story sequencing activity.
5. Learning is a process of making sense of the world
Through different information being presented to the students, the goal will be that
previous information that has been presented to them from life experiences will make
more sense. It is through scaffolded learning and the assumption that students have
heard similar information earlier, that we can culminate the learning experience in a
completed narrative.
6. Effective learning requires meaningful, open-ended, challenging problems for the
learner to solve
Material a teacher presents to their students must be relevant and authentic in order
for the students to full engage with the content provided. To this end, our lessons will
be framed within stories that students are already familiar with, have the material
pitched at an appropriate level in accordance with the ZPD (Obukhova &
Korepanova, 2009). Finally, all content will have multiple entry and exit points in
order to allow for all students ability levels. Therefore all students will be able to
begin the given tasks and end where they feel comfortable.
We believe that the constructivist approach to learning is fundamental, especially in the early
childhood classroom as it is in the first few years of learning that students either come to love
or despise the classroom. The pedagogical implications for this are immense and it is with
this is mind that teachers should have a thorough grasp of the constructivist approach to
education.
References
Obukhova, L. F., & Korepanova, I. A. (2009). The Zone of Proximal Development: A
Spatiotemporal Model. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 47(6), 25
47. http://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405470602