CONSTRUCTIVISM

QUESTION

CONCEPT OF SCAFFFOLDING

SOLUTION

Constructivism is a radical thought about the manner in which one can teach as well as learn. This teaching methodology emphasises on learning not from the scratch but from the knowledge one already has thereby ensuring better grasp and expanding the horizons of the learning gained. This idea of teaching has implication on the manner in which teaching is done as it is not seen as transmission of knowledge from a knowledgeable person to an unknowledgeable person (Brooks, 2009). Rather it is seen as the guidance to expand the horizons of the present knowledge and build new blocks over it. Constructivism would imply that the present methods of teaching would have to ensure that they bring forth the current knowledge of the students and ensure that they are able to strengthen it by adding the new things being taught to them (Maureen, 2005). The students on the other hand would have to link and connect the new learning with the one they already possessed in their minds.

Dialogic teaching is feasible to an extent but it cannot be fully replaced with the conventional methods of teaching. These would act as add-ons to the current methodologies in teaching and would compliment the benefits of the same (Aleander, 2003).  Dialogic teaching helps in simulating and extending the thinking power of the students but it has limitations in the way that everything cannot be taught in a verbal manner. Teaching revolves around not only verbal modes of teaching but also experimenting and experiencing. It has often been proved that children tend to learn and grasp thought experiential learning (Nelson, 2006).  The method of dialogic teaching loses on the practical front as there might get a disconnect between the teacher and the student if the teaching is done only using a verbal medium. The disconnect might come in the form of lag where teacher might be expecting the students to connect the teachings with the one they already possess as all the students may need different experiences to advance to different levels of understanding.

Such approaches of teaching can be incorporated through a number of means and it would work better when applied along with the conventional methods of teaching. Dialogic teaching can be the primary form of teaching which can be thus backed by the experiential learning to ensure that the learning is effectively gained in the teaching processs (Wolfe, 2008). Also the scenarios where knowledge transfer is to happen mostly through dialogues, this form of teaching would come handy. The basis of this approach is to ensure that the students are able to not only grasp but also connect and build up on their previously gained knowledge (Maureen, 2005). Constructivism through dialogic teaching would work and find more practical usage in teaching if it is applied with the conventional methods and in many a cases would act as a replication tool in teaching.

References

Aleander, R. (2003). Talk in teaching and learning. New perspectives on spoken English. pg. 26-29

Wolfe, S. (2008). Argumentation and dialogic teaching.London: FutureLab. pg. 54-59

Nelson, M. (2006). Talk for learning. Interactions in language. Vol. 2, pg. 34-37

Brooks, J.G.  (2009). Radical constructivism. Boston: Harvard University Press

Maureen, T. (2005). Learning matters. New perspectives on spoken English. Pg. 26-31

JA01