Assignment: Edusci 1

Column 1: Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget is one of the pioneer of the Constructivism, especially in trivial constructivism. His idea is based on the construction of learning inside of the individuals’. Children engage their environment to lead them to make a structure in the each of their mind. He insisted that interaction between the structure in children’s mind and the experience from their environment revise the knowledge in their thought and develop the cognitive process.

Children must push their schema to make them conflict between their original recognition and the new cognition according to Piaget. It is limited for teacher to intrude the process which occur inside of the children’s brain. Because of this argument, ‘Discovery Learning’ has been popular and issued in the 1960s which students should discover the principles of academic subjects such as mathematics and science without any help from teachers.

Trivial constructivism

Trivial constructivism claims that people construct the mental form from their understanding. When they meet new knowledge, learners become puzzled to adapt the new information with their schema which they have had before. This process makes people learn more about the knowledge they meet and let their understanding richer by enhancing their learning.

However, constructivism is based on a individual thought so that it would be completely different for each people. Therefore, even if they gain the same information from the new environment, every person do not recognize the sharing meaning. It is mismatched that human being is a social animal to interact each other with the common condition. Because of the problem, consturctivism is criticized by the opposite side who do not uphold the theory.

Teaching in the classroom

1. Peer Interaction
   • They are sitting around the desk and discuss about the subject. They can adapt their schema comparing to others’ and make a conflict between their thoughts.
2. No teacher
   • According to Piaget’s theory, teachers and experts had better not interfere learner’s activity. The learner should develop their cognitive field themselves by breaking and converting their original thoughts.
3. Paper work
   • To reflect the consideration of students, paper working is one of the great tool to organize their idea and collect each of theirs into the one place.

In my classroom

Students independently observe the result of the reaction of the chemical process. They analyze themselves and make them collide their own schema to the new information and adapt the new knowledge. After finishing their experiment, they can consider the result with their peer to compare their opinion about the experiment.

Column 2: Lev Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky is the Russian psychologist in the 1930s. He contended the social work is able to make people learn the knowledge and construct their thought. Compared to Piaget’s opinion, ‘inside-out’, Vygotsky argued an ‘outside-in’ theory. His insistence was presented in the 1960s to 1970s because when he asserted his voice, it was not match with Soviet ideology.

With his opinion, the main point of the learning is come from human activity. Especially, language accounts for the most part of it. For children, language is the first ‘tool’ to communicate to others in the logical process. They can express their thought and opinion exactly with language to their parents and the parents will discuss the issue with their children and give some feedback. This process lets children enhance their logical understanding and learn the concepts in the conversation. This is meant what Vygotsky argued that social relation causes cognitive level higher. Therefore, he affirmed that the assistance from teachers and parents has a big role of the learning process.

According to Vygotsky, there is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which is an space where teacher and learner share their thought and opinion. It is an intellectual field when students approach this zone, teachers guide them to move to the next level of logical thinking and gain proper support to improve their thinking. Not only teacher but also students who are an expert in the specific field can be role as a teacher in the ZPD.

Social constructivism

Being opposite to the trivial constructivism, social constructivism emphasizes the external factor affects the internal factor to develop the knowledge and idea. Culture and social community contribute to develop the logical thinking process of individuals’. Those factors share a various kind of experience to a person who are interested in specific fields. Social work are able to improve the negotiating ability to adapt new environment.

To interact each others, theorists who advocate the social constructivism impose the importance to the tool, language. They consider that language is one of the most significant way to deliver each others’ thought. People are able to recognize the difference of the cognition between them and analyze their opinion profoundly. Sharing their idea, people can build their own structures in their mind and revise them to deal with the others.

Teaching in the class

1. Lecturing
   • From a teacher or an expert, students can build the new knowledge if they are in the ZPD. They can upgrade their ability of thinking facing to the new knowledge by the experts.
2. Consulting
   • Challenging works in front of students could be mentored by teachers or their peers who have more specific and high level of experience. From the Vygotskian thinkers, they call it ‘Scaffolding’.
3. Social Work
   • Not only academic group projects but also social work such as doing sports, playing music with peers and joining the club affect individuals’ schema. It provides learners several new experience and the courage to progress themselves.

In my classroom

Teacher can give several information to student to draw them into the goal about their subject. Some students are already good at the goal so that they can support their friends as an expert in the session. Assistants’ help is necessary to proceed the class and build the schema in students’ cognitive field.