Constructivism TIPR

Overall, I did not observe a great deal of constructivist themes in the class that I observed. The usual structure of the class went: bell ringer, lecture and notes, activity, closing discussion. I noticed aspects of constructivism in some of the activities though. For example, one activity was a jigsaw where the students explored the characteristics of one category of illicit drugs and then taught their peers what they learned. In a different activity the students analyzed media ads and looked for hidden messages then brainstormed on their own what strategies they could use to be more aware and conscious of negative media ads which reminded me of problem based learning. Other than that I didn't notice very many constructivist techniques in this classroom. I did notice the tenets of constructivism throughout my time in her classroom. This teacher did a really good job of broadening topics so students could see how they related to them outside of the classroom. She used related current events and personal stories to illustrate that the topics were applicable to them in their day to day lives. Every day before class the teacher would determine readiness through her bell ringer prompts and the subsequent discussions. She also provided a lot of scaffolding in the form of definitions and review to maintain and evaluate their readiness from class to class. The teacher encouraged intuition by asking questions that don't necessarily have right or wrong answers so that students have the opportunity to have that "go with their gut" experience as they contemplated their answers. Lastly, she motivated her students by being very positive about their exploration of concepts and their willingness to explore ideas. I feel like she works really hard to develop their intrinsic motivation by giving them the positive space to discuss and ask questions. As far as the three modes of processing goes, I didn't see a lot of enactive learning taking place in this classroom. There was a lot of iconic learning because the teacher's slideshows had a lot of images and videos that visualized the concepts for the students. There were a few instances of symbolic learning when the teacher would have the students read articles and think through them in groups.

As far as constructivism goes I think there are a lot of needs that these students have. I thin they would totally benefit from the opportunity to learn the concepts of mental health and substance abuse in a constructivist way. I think they would have done really well with inquiry based learning since they always seemed enthusiastic about the topics discussed I think they would have been really successful exploring the topic on their own. I think especially in the substance abuse unit the students could have used problem based learning to think of ways to solve the substance abuse problems going on at their own school. Overall, I think these students would have loved the opportunity to explore on their own or in small groups, they would have added their own personal flare to their responses that would have made the subject matter much more valuable to them. They also need more exposure to the three modes of processing to help them remember and learn things in different ways.

If I had the opportunity to teach again I think I would take a shot at creating that complex learning environment and use inquiry based learning to teach about illicit drugs. I would pose the question "why would a drug be illegal?" and then just give them most of the class to explore and brainstorm in groups their thoughts on drug use and the consequences of drug use and what they believe. Or I would provide the opportunity to use some of that enactive learning by giving my students scenarios and the chance to learn through action. I also think that I would allow for student ideas to evolve by splitting up broader topics into smaller topics so that they can generate further complex ideas about one single topic.