Based on The Case for Constructivist Classrooms by Brooks
and Brooks
L. Gordon
Constructivist teachers:
- Encourage student autonomy and initiative
- Encourage students to use raw data, primary sources (real research), as
well as manipulative and interactive materials
- Use cognitive terminology such as "classify", "predict",
"analysis" when framing tasks for students
- Allow students responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies,
and alter lesson content (This does not mean that students alone determine
what is or is not taught, but that their interests are integrated taking advantage
of teachable moments.)
- Inquire about students’ understandings of concepts before sharing their
own understanding of those concepts (Most students stop thinking about the
answer to a question once they have heard the "correct" answer from
the teacher.)
- Encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with one another and the
teacher (Research suggests that social interaction is a powerful way to change
and reinforce conceptions.)
- Encourage student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and
encouraging students to ask questions of each other
- Seek elaboration of students’ initial responses to a query (Students
first thoughts are not necessarily their final or best thoughts.)
- Engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their
initial hypotheses (naïve conceptions) and then encourage discussion
(Cognitive change and growth occurs when individuals revisit and reformulate
current ideas.)
- All wait time after posing questions
- Provide time for students to construct relationships and create metaphors
- Nurture students’ natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning
cycle model (Hands-on discovery, concept introduction, then concept application.)
