0.3 Theories/approaches to learning  (Page 3/12)

Young Adult (Intimacy vs.Isolation)

Learns to make personal commitment to another as spouse, parent or partner. At this time, college-age students arebeginning to see who they are and what they can do. They think about long-term commitments and about a "definition" for themselves. It is important tolisten carefully and, as a caretaker still, respect their ability to make their own choices.

Middle-Age Adult (Generativity vs Stagnation)

Seeks satisfaction through productivity in career, family, and civic interests.

Older Adult (Integrity vs. Despair)

Reviews life accomplishments, deals with loss and preparation for death.

Constructivism

Introduction

The latest catchword in educational circles is "constructivism," and it is applied both to learning theory and to epistemology (to how people learn and to the nature of knowledge). What is it? What does it have to tell us that is new andrelevant, and how do we apply it to our work?

What is constructivism?

The term refers to the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves - each learner individually (and socially)builds meaning - as he or she learns. Constructing meaning is learning. The dramatic consequences of this view are two-fold:

• We have to focus on the learner in thinking about learning (not on the subject/lesson to be taught):
• There is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to experience (constructed) by the learner, or community of learners.

Although it appears radical on an everyday level, it is a position that has been frequently adopted eversince people began toponder epistemology (the nature of knowledge). If we accept constructivist theory, we have to recognize that there is no such thing asknowledge "out there" independent of the knower, but only knowledge we construct for ourselves as we learn.

Learning is not understanding the "true" nature of things, nor is it remembering dimly perceived perfect ideas, but rather a personal and social construction of meaning out of the bewildering array of sensations that have no order or structure besidesthe explanations that we fabricate for them.

The more important question is: Does it actually make any difference in our everyday work whether deep down we consider knowledgeto be about some "real" world independent of us, or whether we consider knowledge to be of our own making? The answer is "Yes, it does make adifference," because of the first point suggested above: in our profession our epistemological views dictate our pedagogic views.

If we believe that knowledge consists of learning about the real world out there, then we endeavor first and foremost tounderstand that world, organize it in the most rational way possible, and, as teachers, present it to the learner. This view may still engage us inproviding the learner with activities, with hands-on learning, with opportunities to experiment and manipulate the objects of the world, butthe intention is always to make clear to the learner the structure of the world independent of the learner. We help the learner understand the world,but we don't ask him to construct his or her own world.