Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Social Constructivism-How can learning best be effectuated by a teacher?
As teachers, I think that we need promote independent learning in our classrooms as much as possible. More often than not, we continually try to spoon feed knowledge to our students, rather than allowing them to discover it on their own. We need to take a step back from our role as a teacher and become more of a learning assistant. We need to allow our students to take ownership of their learning and then make ourselves available to our students when they feel they have reached a point where they can progress no further. We can then be the person the student goes to help refine their understanding.
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Okay, reading this entry just answered my question from your "What is Learning?" blog. I agree with you. It's probably out of the comfort zone to approach teaching as you have described but very worthwhile. Not every lesson would have to use the same process, but adding elements of independent learning and being the "learning assistant" would not only add variety but could jump-start the learning process for some students.
ReplyDeleteI also think independent learning is such an important aspect of good learning. That is what I think the zone of proximal development is aimed at accomplishing--providing a mentor who serves as a learning assistant and not one who has absolute control over all aspects of the learning environment.
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