Chapter 2 Blog

Something that I learned from the Chapter 2 readings is the difference between Objectivists and Constructivists. Objective believe that knowledge has a separate, real existence of its own outside of the human mind and Constructivists believe that humans construct all knowledge in their minds by participating in certain experiences. I also learned about Kirshshner, Sweller, and Clarkand their statement that talks about how minimally guided instruction ignores the fundamentals of human cognition and overloads the working memory. The third thing that I learned was from Bruner and how he felt about how active participation and how he believed it to be best achieved by providing discovery learning environments that would let children explore alternatives and recognize relationships between ideas.

Ways that I thought that the principles could be included into teaching include the following. First would be to follow the constructivist model of learning. This could be achieved by getting as much student involvement in class as possible to allow for as much growth as possible whether it be through using engaging technologies or groups assignments. Second I could use the proposed model that Bruner Came up with. This may be achieved by allowing students to explore information outside of the classroom whether it be on the internet or through books to allow them to gain a larger knowledge base so that they can begin to recognize relationships in materials.

One question that I do have about the material is when you give students learning assignment to do on their own, how much guidance do you give them to ensure that they are getting something out of it?