Recently, in February this year, I was required to teach educators the role of constructivism in the classroom to enhance the student’s understanding of the concepts taught. The activity was happening at a professional conference in Education Psychology that was held near the University. The conference involved teachers from various Elementary schools in the area who wanted to learn how the use psychology in their area of work to enhance the level of understanding among the students. I decided to focus on the effectiveness of social constructivism in the learning environment. I decided to adopt a practical method of teaching educators how social constructivism works and using presentations to explain the basic concepts. Grouping them into teams of three and providing them with complex problems that they were supposed to solve using their knowledge and experiences. The process was successful since I could adequately illustrate the fundamental aspects of social constructivism using interactive activity and real-life scenarios.
Choosing the social constructivism perspective was inspired by the idea that adopting the approach effectively teaches elementary school students. Since I wanted to teach them about its application, using it to educate them on the basic concept of the theory was an excellent way of ensuring that they had a better understanding of it. Social constructivism tends to focus on the collaborative nature of learning. It is based on the notion that people’s interaction with others, society, and their culture helps in developing knowledge (Akpan et al., 2020). The students depend on others when creating their building blocks, and learning from their colleagues and other people involved enables them to construct their reality and knowledge. Lev Vygotsky developed the approach, and it is related to cognitive constructivism except for the societal and peer influence aspects.
The social interaction the students are exposed to tends to influence the learning process and their understanding of the concepts being taught. Vygotsky argued that language and culture are crucial in intellectual development and how people perceive the world. The learning concepts are transmitted using the language. The learners interpret and understand the concepts through interactions and experiences within a cultural setting (Akpan et al., 2020). The theory explains the learning process as a social activity whereby peers, family members, and casual acquaintances play a crucial role in enhancing the student’s understanding of various ideas. Social constructivism can be adopted in the classroom using various instructional methods such as research projects, brainstorming, group work, and problem-based learning. Thus, social interactions impact the learning process by influencing the learner’s understanding of various concepts and ideas.
The role of the instructor in the learning environment is to provide a collaborative environment and offer guidance in areas in which the students may have queries. For instance, the instructor is required to come up with groups for the students to ensure that they attain the maximum benefits. The teacher is also needed to be available to answer the questions that the students may have to enhance the level of understanding of the concepts (Shah, 2019). During the professional conference program, I walked around the room, providing them with the necessary help on the issues they had questions about. A teacher is also required to provide the relevant resources to enable the students to construct the desired knowledge. I offered the elementary teachers involved in the program reading materials that adequately addressed the concepts relating to the social constructivism theory. Therefore, the role of the instructor is to provide a favorable environment for collaboration, feedback, and learning materials.
The learner is required to be an active participant in the learning process. The students no longer need to sit down to be informed by the teachers but have to construct the meaning for themselves. For example, during the professional conference, the participants were required to discover some important concepts for themselves without relying on me as the instructor to educate them. According to the social constructivism approach, learners should learn how to work in groups without competing against each other (Knapp, 2019). The students are also required to acknowledge and appreciate the opinions of their colleagues. At the end of the session, I required the teachers to explain the new ideas and concepts they learned from their group members and how they would adopt the knowledge into their work. The learners also become the co-custodian of knowledge since they are involved in its creation using their experience.
There are various benefits associated with the application of social constructivism in classrooms. For instance, it encourages the students to become active participants in the learning process, promoting their understanding of the concepts being taught (Akpan et al., 2020). The elementary teachers involved in the training program had a better understanding of the social constructivism concepts as a result of discussing and interacting with their peers. The approach also encourages the learners to understand the ideas being taught in their way, making it relatively hard to forget. I asked the teachers involved to explain some of the concepts they had learned. They could explain the ideas more simplified way, which would be relatively difficult to forget. The use of social constructivism also promotes team spirit. Some of the teachers were grouped with complete strangers but were fast friends by the end of the exercise. Adopting the approach in the classroom ensures that the students are active participants and enhances team spirit.
However, various limitations are associated with applying the approach in classrooms. Applying social constructivism concepts in the classroom is a complicated process and requires the instructors to understand the theory more deeply (Shah, 2019). The approach is also highly dependent on the student’s understanding, which sometimes may be limited or misplaced, negatively affecting the learning process. Some of the elementary teachers’ explanations for the concepts were wrong. The lack of proper understanding by the instructors and the limited knowledge of the students on various concepts limits the use of social constructivism in classrooms.
Therefore, applying the social constructivism approach to teach elementary teachers about the theory was successful since they could grasp the concepts taught. Using practical examples was an effective way of educating them. The approach has the notion that the social interactions learners are exposed to influence the learning process by allowing the construction of knowledge. The role of the instructor is to provide the relevant materials, create a favorable collaboration environment and provide feedback in situations that the students require. The learner is an active participant in the learning process; he or she is required to create knowledge from social participation. The approach is associated with various benefits, such as increased student involvement and enhanced teamwork. However, its application is complicated, and the limited knowledge among the learners can affect the understanding of concepts.
References
Akpan, V. I., Igwe, U. A., Mpamah, I. B., & Okoro, C. O. (2020). SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM: IMPLICATIONS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING. British Journal of Education, 8(8), 49-56.
Knapp, N. F. (2019). The Shape Activity: Social Constructivism in the Psychology Classroom. Teaching of Psychology, 46(1), 87-71.
Shah, R. K. (2019). Effective Social Constructivist Approach to Learning for Social Studies Classroom. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 3(2), 38-51.
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