CONSTRUCTIVISM 0.2

Constructivism is a part of cognitive revolution”. Cognitive revolution is the name of an intellectual movement in the 1950s that began with what are known collectively as the cognitive sciences and increasingly deliberated in the late 1960s. The term”cognitive revolution” began to be used to take advantage of an analysis of scientific revolution in general that was developed by Thomas Kuhn. The cognitive revolution was the response to the behaviorism .As we know that, behaviorism was a theory that based on observable changes in behavior. Moreover, behaviorism was the theory in which central attention was in the teacher’s role. It means that the character of the students in the teaching learning process was passive while the teacher was in the opposite. The students just absorbed the information from the teacher rather than constructed the meaning by their own selves. While, constructivism was a theory to learning in which learners were  provided the opportunity to construct  their own sense of what was being  learned  by building  internal connection or relationship among ideas  and facts.  It means that the character of the students in which the constructivism theory was applied  was  active. The teacher as the facilitator this is the reason why constructivism is a part of cognitive revolution that it becomes the response  to the behaviorism.

      Constructivism primarily is a synthesis of the ideas from philosophy, sociology, psychology and education .Constructivism is not a single concept but it can involve the following three aspects”. They are epistemological, psychological and educational beliefs. Constructivism as a set of epistemological beliefs that is beliefs about the nature of reality, whether there is an independent reality. Constructivism as a set of psychological beliefs about learning and cognition (e.g that learning involves constructing one’s own knowledge). Constructivism as a set of educational beliefs about  pedagogy (e.g that one should allow the learners to define their own learning objective that knowledge emerges from constructive interaction between the teacher and the students or between collaborating students).  Based on the history of constructivism comes from experts, I can infer that,  in the beginning  constructivism  was derived from some aspects that were  philosophy, sociology, psychology, education and epistemological beliefs. All of the aspects united into a general sense of constructivism that it was  a theory  of learning or making meaning that individuals created their own new understanding  on the basis of an interaction between what they already  know, belief, ideas and knowledge with which they come into contact.

Definition of Constructivism

     Constructivism is a theory of how learning occurs (Henson, 1996 in asiaeuniversity, 2012:143). It means that this theory determines how learning happens. It is one of the useful learning in which it determines the lives of learners; try to look for their own understanding about something that they are curious to know. The ways to seek can be done through questioning of their knowledge and new discoverers. Constructivism as a learning theory learns about how people learn to construct something in their own understanding by relating the prior knowledge and new information. By doing this, a constructivist learners try to be an active creators.

     Constructivism is an approach to learning in which learners are provided the opportunity  to construct their own sense of what is being learned by building internal connection or relationship among ideas and facts being taught. According to Cheeks (1992) humans are not passive information receiver. Humans are active information receivers. They build network of information with their previous information and they assimilate or accommodate new knowledge with the prior information in order to build their own understanding of new information. From the two perceptions from two experts, I can infer that constructivism is a theory to help the learners to construct the meaning of thing. They try to create learners to be active to assimilate what is being learned and prior experience.

    Constructivism as a theory of learning emerged from the work of cognitive psychologist such as Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner. With the development of cultural psychology, the two perspectives become dominant. They are individual and social constructivism. Individual constructivism focuses on the construction of meaning inside the person while social constructivism focuses on the construction of meaning among people.

PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTIVISM:

Constructivism is based on the knowledge constructed in the minds of the learner. we can formulate the following principles of learning based on constructivism.

1) Constructive process of building new knowledge and not just simply a collection of information from various sources. Each learner individually constructs their own knowledge.

2)  Using previous knowledge and experiences, the learners build their new understanding. They report previously established and gained knowledge which leads to a foundation for developing new constructive knowledge.

3) Learning is an interpretive process, the synthesis of the two is the learner who provides meaning to it.

4)  Learning is an active process rather than a passive one. They remain active recipients throughout the process of knowledge construction.

 5) Learning is a social activity, students interact with the teachers, family members, peers, and experts in the field. Students construct their knowledge and use others’ experiences to build final knowledge.

6) Here the children learn a variety of ways of making and doing through experiences. Experimentation, Reading, discussion, presenting asking, writing, listening, thinking

7) This strategy promotes learning by all.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONSTRUCTIVISM:

It emphasizes the role of the learners in developing understanding and making sense of information. Based on the principles that the individual cannot simply given knowledge. Constructions of knowledge are rooted in prior knowledge.

1. a) Learns to construct understanding:

* Learners develop an understanding that makes sense to them.

* Do not receive understanding from an outside source.

* Learners develop new ideas about what they know.

* Learners construct new knowledge that makes sense to them.

1. b) Current understanding helps to develop new learning:

* New Learning interpreted in the immediate construct of current understanding.

* Background information is important.

* It is through the present scheme that the learner that new information will be interpreted.

1. c) Construction of knowledge is facilitated by social interaction:

* Constructivists believe in creating a community of learners within the classroom

* Learning communities help learners take responsibility for their learning.

* Learners have a lot of opportunities to cooperate, collaborate to solve problems, and discover things.

*Teachers play the role of facilitator rather than the expert who has all the knowledge.

* Learning communities encourage students to take responsibility for their learning.

1. d) Authentic learningleads to meaningful learning.

 An authentic learning task is one that involves a learning activity that involves constructing knowledge and understanding that is so keen to the knowledge and understanding needed when applied in the real world.

• ‘Attentive task’—- classroom learning activity that requires understanding.
• Provide students with practice thinking in a real-world situation.