Yes I think simple thumbnail definitions like this help
The first half: "people learn by actively constructing new knowledge, rather than having information "poured" into their heads" is what a lot of educators would understand by 'constructivism' Contructionism seems to be Papert's refinement - and a less well known term -suggesting this happens most readily when engaged in 'constructing personally meaningful artifacts' (eg Logo projects) Even bared down like this though, these terms sound a bit theoretical - I'd suggest having another level of more emotive terms /slogans (in the style of "doing with images makes symbols" ) eg a. We all make our own knowledge b. We learn best by doing c. We need mentoring in supportive environments I added (c) since the first two are powerful statements, but only one side of learning, as critics will be quick to point out....(most aren't going to sit down and productively learn by doing without some source of example and instruction) I used 'environments', rather than peers/teachers etc, as i think mentoring can come via books and tutorials, activities and scaffolds as well as more direct human instruction Cheers rob ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Seth Woodworth Sent: Saturday, 16 August 2008 4:15 AM To: Education; Educators and OLPC; Grassroots OLPC Subject: [IAEP] Concise explanation of Constructionism from the Learning Team Inspired by Sameer's recent conversations with a pair of Montessori Kindergarden teachers. I went to talk to Cynthia Solomon of the OLPC Learning team. We got to talking about the theory of Activities and a few other topics. Eventually she showed me this snippit from the Media Lab's Future of Learning Group: Constructionism We are developing "Constructionism" as a theory of learning and education. Constructionism is based on two different senses of "construction." It is grounded in the idea that people learn by actively constructing new knowledge, rather than having information "poured" into their heads. Moreover, constructionism asserts that people learn with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful artifacts (such as computer programs, animations, or robots). http://learning.media.mit.edu/projects.html I thought that this explination was concise and really interesting. I would love to explain this to people who want to desige activities, just to give them a little snapshot of the concept. Does anyone have a problem with this deffinition? Does anyone have an improvement? -Seth Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
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