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Have you in your own education, your children’s education, or in a school you’ve taught at experienced a constructivist approach to education? If so, describe some of the impact (positive or negative) you experienced/witnessed.
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Yes, I have taught in a school where the positive side of constructivism is applied like giving learners multiple choices of learning centers, differentiating and having students learn at their own pace. However, the negative side could be disastrous as some students would not want to learn at all because they are not motivated to do so.
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Yes. In my school, learning is students centered. The beauty of the approach is students through creativity take ownership of their learning with little or no assistance. The negative impact is that if students are not properly supervised some may take advantage of the freedom to be complacent.
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I was a long-term substitute teacher for my child’s second-grade class. The teacher had a very constructivist approach to their learning. I felt that it had more of a negative impact than a positive. The students were allowed to wander and sit in a time-out corner whenever they felt they needed a break. It created an environment where kids were more concerned with taking a break and doing what they wanted versus creating an environment conducive to learning. Kids were distracted constantly by the movement.
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Yes, the school I teach encourages the use of a
constructivist approach in education. Students are put at the center of learning. The positive effects of this approach are that students claim the ownership of their learning, critical thinking ability of the student is enhanced and deeper understanding of the concepts are not far fetched. The negative effects are that some learners struggle when the teacher fails to give a clear direction. With this approach, visual and auditory learners faced multifaceted challenges during learning processes. -
I have experienced it in my class. When I allow them to come up with project ideas, some work better and have produced great projects with such ideas while I see some struggle and wonder what to do.