Abstract:
In North America, we have singing groups called barber shoppers. Has anyone
heard of the term, barbershop choir? This is what they look like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZJHsT2ONEs.
Right now, you may be totally confused, and asking yourself, “What does a
barbershop choir have to do with a keynote speech on Constructivism.”Does anyone
know the answer? And now, after the appropriate wait time (which is another
constructivist strategy), here is the answer. The term "keynote speaker" actually comes
from barbershop singers, because they often practiced a keynote, before singing the entire
song. (http://www.ehow.com/about_5250659_definition-keynote-speaker.html). This
confusion that you first experienced is sometimes referred to as a state of disequilibrium.
It is often is associated with engaging students because it involves emotions which are
necessary for learning to occur, and students tend to be inquisitive; wanting to know the
answer to information that is unfamiliar to them. This leads us to the major premise of
constructivism: “Engagement Precedes Learning”.
Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by
reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live
in. Each of us generates our own “rules” and “mental models,” which we use to make
sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our
mental models to accommodate new experiences
(http://www.funderstanding.com/theory/constructivism/ )
My co-authors and I extended this definition in our latest book (Flynn, P.,
Mesibov, D. Vermette, P. & Smith, R. M. (2013). Captivating classes with constructivism
(3rded.). Potsdam, New York: Institute for Learning Center Education) to include the
following: Constructivism is a “theory” of how people learn; it is not a practice, strategy,
technique, or set of lessons. Constructivist theory can be a guide for a teacher as he
designs lessons and reacts to student questions and work. Constructivist theory does not
address what people should be learning – only how they should learn. The teacher
decides the purpose of the lesson; the teacher focuses students on what she wants them to
learn by assessing them on what she will hold them accountable for and letting them
know this in advance, often by distribution of a Rubric. If a lesson is well crafted, it may
allow students options which will let them pursue learning well beyond what the teacher
requires – BUT NOT INSTEAD OF the Learning Objectives set by the teacher.