Constructivism & Its curriculum

This week's subject was also the constructivist perspective and its curriculum. We focused on constructivism in terms of the constructivist curriculum model for science. We tried to find the answers of these questions;

If students and teachers together construct or enact their own curricula, what are the consequences in terms of curriculum theory and practice?

What is the state of practice with respect to teaching and learning from a constructivist point of view?

Instead, constructivism promotes using curricula customized to the students' prior knowledge. Also, it emphasizes hands-on problem solving. In a Constructivist curriculum the role of the teacher becomes one of a facilitator, a 'guide on the side'. The student becomes the active 'meaning-maker'. I mean that, constructive teaching is based on the belief that students learn best when they gain knowledge through exploration and active learning. Hands-on materials are used instead of textbooks, and students are encouraged to think and explain their reasoning instead of memorizing and reciting facts. Education is centered on themes and concepts and the connections between them, rather than isolated information.

We also focused on three general question:
1) How can I make it move?
2) How can I make it change?
3) How does it fit or how do I fit
these questions are for an early childhood science education curriculum from a constructivist perspective.

I also learned from this lesson that children are asking two sorts of questions:
wonder,
puzzlement.

In the laboratory hours, first group did experiments which were used to explain weather. Experiments were very good-prepared and enjoyable.
Second group tried to inform us about the reason of landslide, how a salty water holds an egg up and make it float on water. They were also very successful and enjoyable.

I learned these words:
congruent: identical, corresponding or in agreement,
inquiry: exploration, investigation or questioning,
incline: slope, grade or slant.

AS AN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR, WE SHOULD BE..

I have been asking myself this question ‘Why do I want to be an early childhood educator?’. My answer is easy. Because I love children. However, there should be more personal attributes to be an early childhood educator besides loving children. I think, I do not only love children but I also want to share my life and knowledge with them. I will have a vital role in shaping my children’ lives.
I believe that, as a teacher; we sould have motivating personality and we should be enthusiastic, warm, humor, creative, adaptable, flexible, and fair.
I want to give an answer to dreams of each children one by one. I am sure that they have enormous dreams in their little mind. I believe that all of them are individual and unique. They are more and more enthusiastic than me and they need love, care, respect, confidence, and support. I will establish and maintain an environment that ensures children’s safety and healthy development.
And of course, we should trust children and respect them. Moreover, positive relationship with families is so important.
Finally, we must be knowledgable. I believe that knowledge of subject is so important but just knowledge is not enough. We should combine knowledge of teaching with my subject knowledge. Furthermore, as a teacher; we should take consideration knowledge of children so that we reflect correct and efficent knowledge to children.

In this lesson, we talked about three types of knowledge which are described by a constructivist philosopher, Piaget. These are;

Physical knowledge

Logico-mathematical knowledge

Social knowledge

Lastly, we compared behavioristic and constructivist approaches. In the behavioristic approache; teacher and learner's prior knowledge have so significant role to teach new knowledge. However; constructivism emphasizes the importance of the knowledge, beliefs, and skills an individual brings to the experience of learning. It recognizes the construction of new understanding as a combination of prior learning, new information, and readiness to learn. Individuals make choices about what new ideas to accept and how to fit then into their established views of the world. In my opinion, constrructivist approache is more suitable and succesful than behavioristic.

To conclude, I mean; to reach an understanding of basic phenomena, children have to go through stages in which they accept ideas they may later see as not truthful. Understanding is built up step by step through active involvement.

In the lab; The first group made experiments to focus on different concepts about water. They were effective and successful. Their concepts about water as follows;

water has weight,
water's weight and upthrust help things float,
water goes into the air,
water can change forms reversibly,
water is a solvent for many materials,
water clings to itself,
water clings to other materials,
water moves into other materials.

The second group made experiment about how we take a breath. Their experiments are also so effective and enjoyable.

Discovery Processes

In the third lesson, we leraned and talked about what we should do while making an exploration. We laetned that "National Association for the Education of Young Children" has processes while exploring. These are:

1) The exploration starts with raising a question.
2) The exploration of materials and objects begins.
3) Next, careful observations take place.
4) One describes, compares, sorts and classifies the things and situations.
5) After, to extend the observation one uses variety of tools.
6) And now there becomes an engagement with investigation.
7) Then, observation is recorded.
8) Finally, communication with others.

I think, science is all about classification, organization, and thinking that involves critical and logical skills. Not only is teaching the Scientific Method a required process in education, but also it is also a very useful process that when developed, can enhance a child's thinking and reasoning skills. By empowering children to use the scientific method, they can begin to explore their world and their surroundings while asking appropriate questions that will develop their critical thinking.

The Scientific Method may be described in the following steps: Observation, Question, Hypothesis, Prediction, Experiment, Analysis, and Decision or Conclusion.

As a teacher, you can encourage your children to "observe" and then lead them into the next step, "Question".
After Observation, Question comes into play. When teaching the Scientific Method, encourage children to ask as many questions as possible after they have made careful observations. Don't ever discourage children from asking questions, this is a wonderful way for children to learn.
After children have formulated questions from careful observations, then they will form a Hypothesis. A Hypothesis is an educated guess that will answer questions.
Predication is simply encouraging children to think about what the outcome will be when they conduct their final experiments.
Along with experiment is a careful analysis of the results of the experiment. This analysis will result in a decision or final conclusion.
Lastly, we talked about and I understood that helping children learn and understand the Scientific Method offers many benefits that will extend far beyond science books.

Open-ended questions are wonderful tools that promote children's creative thought, problem-solving skills, and cognitive growth. Some open-ended questions follows;

· What do you think about ...?
· How could we fix it?
· I wonder if there's another way?
· What's your opinion?
· Just suppose that...then what?
· What would happen if ...?
· What else can we use this for?
· What is this like?
· Is there another way to do this?
· What if we added this?
· Tell me about it.

In laboratory session,

The first group focused on the air and the existence of air. Their experiments were too clear and understandable. Second group also focused on the presence of the air, the concept of the center of the gravity. They make “hacıyatmaz”. I think, this is the good way to explain the concept of “gravity” to children. Their experiments reached good results and they were enjoyable.
I learned these words:
Elicit: extract from, bring out
Prob: examine, invest, explore

More Exploration :)

In Teaching Science lesson of this week, we focused on the importance of the exploration. In this lesson we learned that e
exploration, creativity and imagination are important for learning because they allow your child to express their thinking and feelings and develop a sense of self-worth. Very young children build up a sense of themselves using their imagination through play.
Creative play helps toddlers and young children learn more about problem solving, and to see the world from other points of view. Support your child’s learning by being excited and positive when they use their creativity or imagination and ask them questions about what they are thinking and feeling.
In my opinion, our role is to encourage the process of making or imagining something – not to focus on the final product. There are no right answers or best things to make. Children need choices about what to make, and being creative takes time. We will be helping our children to learn to persevere with tasks and also encouraging them to use their imagination.
We also learned and talked about, in this lesson, Gardner's Multiple Intelligences (MIs). These are;
Logical & Mathematical
Naturalist
Musical
Intrapersonal
Spatial
Verbal & Linguistic
Interpersonal
Bodily-Kinesthetic

Lastly, I learned after this lesson and lab hours, we are-as teachers- really important in the creative process of children. Our role is to support our child’s creativity and imagination by providing time, space, and encouragement, or by taking part in the pretend play. For example, we could set up a sheet over some chairs and then make some suggestions about what the space could be used for. Young children get really excited when we take part in their imaginary play and they can lead us. Sometimes we might want to take over and make sure that our children get the words right for the song or play the game ‘properly’. But just like any other creative activity, it’s the process that is important. We will learn a lot more about what our children are thinking and feeling if we watch and listen, and help them out or join in when they ask.

I learned "Catalyst" :
Catalyst: someone or something that results in important changes.