ED 300 Human Growth and Development
Chapter 7: Knowledge Construction
I.
Constructive Processes in Learning and Memory
Construction: Mental process in which a learner takes many separate pieces of
information and uses them to build an overall understanding or interpretation
A.
Construction in Storage
1.
Prior knowledge and expectations are especially likely to influence learning
when new information is ambiguous.
2.
In communicating about either academic or non-academic matters, we must take
care to express our messages completely and unambiguously, leaving little room for
misunderstanding
B.
Construction in Retrieval
1.
When people fill gaps in the information they have retrieved based on what
seems logical, they often make mistakes – a phenomenon known as retrieval error.
2.
Theories that focus on how individual people construct meaning from events are
collectively known as individual constructivism.
C.
Knowledge Construction as a Social Process
1.
Socially constructed knowledge is shared by two or more people simultaneously.
2.
In distributed cognition learners think about an issue or problem together,
sharing ideas and working collaboratively to draw conclusions or develop solutions.
a)
Must clarify and organize
b)
Tend to elaborate
c)
Exposed to the views of others
d)
Model effective ways of thinking for each other
e)
Discover flaws and inconsistencies in their own thinking
f)
Discover how people from different cultures may interpret a topic
g)
With support of others one can practice more sophisticated learning and
reasoning skills
II.
Organizing Knowledge
A.
Concepts – Mentally grouping objects or events that are similar
1.
Smallest unit of thought
2.
Undergeneralize – having too narrow a view about which objects or events the
concept includes
3.
Overgeneralize – Inappropriately including objects and events that are not true
members of the category
4.
B.
Teaching concepts
a)
Provide definitions
b)
Highlight characteristics of concepts
c)
Provide examples and non-examples
d)
Ask students to provide their own examples
e)
Show students how concepts are related
Schemas and Scripts
1.
A schema is a tightly organized set of facts related to a particular concept.
2.
A script involves a predictable sequence of events related to a particular activity.
3.
Students from different diverse cultural backgrounds may come to school with
different schemas and scripts and may interpret the same classroom materials or
activities differently.
4.
Teachers need to help students develop schemas and scripts before providing
new material. (Background Knowledge, Content & Context)
C.
Theories
1.
A theory is a general understandings and beliefs systems about various aspects
of the world.
2.
Students’ theories about the world help them organize and make sense of
personal experiences, classroom subject matter, and other new information.
D.
Worldviews
1.
A worldview is a general set of beliefs and assumptions about reality – how
things are and should be – that influences a learner’s understanding. Jacob 4:13
a)
The creation was divine or a big bang
b)
People’s success and failures are a result of their own actions, divine
intervention, fate, or random occurrences
2.
Worldviews are often an part of our everyday thinking that we take for granted
and usually aren’t consciously aware of them.
III.
Promoting Effective Knowledge Construction
A.
Provide Opportunities for Firsthand Observation and Experimentation
1.
By observing, interacting, and experimenting with the things around them,
students can discover many characteristics and principles of the world on their own.
B.
Presenting Experts’ Perspectives
1.
Through asking appropriate questions and providing hints and suggestions, we
can sometimes lead students to derive appropriate interpretations of objects and events
by themselves.
C.
Emphasizing Conceptual Understanding
1.
Conceptual understanding is when students form many logical connections
among related concepts and principles.
2.
Teaching strategies to help students develop conceptual understanding:
a)
Provide the facts within the context of the subject matter
(1)
S&I: Content and Context
b)
Organize units around a few core ideas
c)
Explore topics in depth
d)
Explain how new ideas relate to students’ personal experiences
(1)
Elaborate, S&I Feel the truth
e)
Through classroom meaningful activities, students learn that understanding
concepts are more important than knowledge of isolated facts.
f)
D.
Ask students to teach others what they have learned.
Encouraging Classroom Dialogue
a)
Students remember new ideas more accurately when they talk to each
other. Literacy challenge #1 Expressive Language, Feel the Truth
E.
Assigning Authentic Activities
1.
Authentic activities are similar to those they might experience in the outside
world.
a)
Writing will improve in both quality and quantity if students write essays,
stories, and letters instead of workbook activities.
b)
Problem-based learning
F.
c)
Project-based learning
d)
Service learning
Scaffolding Theory Construction
1.
Encourage and answer students’ why and how questions.
2.
Ask students to make predictions about what will happen in classroom
experiments.
3.
Use analogies that help students relate new concepts and ideas to their prior
knowledge.
4.
Present physical or symbolic models that encapsulate key features of an entity or
phenomenon.
5.
Choose explanations that are compatible with students’ level of cognitive
development.
6.
G.
Ask students to reflect on and interrelate the things they have learned.
Creating a Community of Learners
1.
A class in which teachers and students collaborate to build a body of knowledge
about a topic and help one another learn about it.
a)
All students are active participants
b)
The primary goal is to acquire a body of knowledge on a specific topic.
c)
Students draw on many resources – textbooks, magazines, internet, one
another.
d)
Discussion and collaboration between two or more students occur regularly.
e)
Diversity in students’ interests and rates of progress is expected and
respected.
2.
f)
Students and teacher coordinate their efforts.
g)
Everyone is a potential resource for others.
h)
The teacher provides some guidance and direction for class activities.
i)
Mechanisms are in place through which students can share.
j)
The process of learning is emphasized as much as the finished product.
Benefits
a)
Fosters peer relationships and a sense of community
3.
Weaknesses
a)
Students will be limited to the knowledge they acquire and share with one
another
b)
IV.
Students may occasionally pass on their misconceptions.
When Knowledge Construction Goes Awry: Addressing Learners’ Misconceptions
A misconception is a belief that is inconsistent with commonly accepted and well-validated
explanations of phenomena or events.
Conceptual change is a process of revising or overhauling an existing theory or belief system in such
a way that new, discrepant information can be better understood and explained.
A.
Obstacles to Conceptual Change
1.
Confirmation bias is when students look for information that confirms their
existing beliefs ignore or discredit contradictory evidence.
2.
Students’ misconceptions may be consistent with their everyday experiences.
3.
Some beliefs are integrated into cohesive theories, with many interrelationships
existing among various ideas.
4.
Students may fail to notice an inconsistency between new information and their
existing beliefs.
5.
B.
Students have a personal or emotional investment in their existing beliefs.
Promoting Conceptual Change
1.
Identify existing misconceptions before instruction begins.
2.
Look for – and build on – elements of truth in students’ existing understandings.
3.
Convince students that their existing beliefs need revision by creating
disequilibrium by:
a)
Ask questions that lead students to find weaknesses in their current beliefs.
b)
Present phenomena that students cannot adequately explain with their
existing understandings.
c)
Have students conduct experiments to test various hypotheses and
predictions.
d)
Ask students to provide several explanations for puzzling phenomena and to
discuss the pros and cons of each one.
e)
Show how one explanation of an event or phenomena is more plausible than
others.
f)
Have the students apply the new ideas to real-life situations and problems.
g)
Ask students to reflect on and describe how their beliefs about a topic have
changed as a result of instruction.
4.
Motivate students to learn correct explanations.
5.
When pointing out errors or weaknesses in students’ reasoning or beliefs,
preserve their self-esteem.
a)
Students must feel confident that their teacher and classmates will not
ridicule them for expressing logical but incorrect ideas and that the ultimate goal
of a lesson is understanding the subject matter, not simply performing well on a
quiz or an assignment.
6.
V.
Monitor what students say and write for persistent misconceptions.
Diversity in Constructive Process
A.
Different students have different knowledge bases – including different concepts,
schemas, scripts, theories, and worldviews – that they use to make sense of new situations.
B.
Academic subject matter may conflict with students most core beliefs.
C.
We can increase their multicultural awareness by promoting multiple constructions of
the same situation.
D.
A community of learners may be especially useful when we have a diverse student
population.
E.
VI.
Accommodate students with special needs based on the need of the student.
The Big Picture
A.
Learners construct knowledge both on their own and in collaboration with others.
B.
Learners integrate much of what they learn to make generalizations about their world.
C.
Learners’ constructions are sometimes productive and sometimes counterproductive.