Constructivist Lesson

Unlike many lesson plans, the constructivist lesson plan is structured to keep both the student and the teacher “on their toes” throughout the lesson. A constructivist lesson plan does not expect the student to have prior knowledge of what they are going to learn. Instead, it starts from scratch and allows space to construct several ways of learning. For instance, during a constructivist lesson plan, the student will engage in several different activities involving the same lesson such as, group activities, games, or even entire groups as a class. When the teacher teaches a constructivist lesson plan the students are a lot more engaged and in many cases learn a lot more. As a student in higher education I also like the constructivist lesson plan, in my opinion it is a lot more interesting, hands on and cooperative. Teaching a constructivist activity includes the following, the student is not expected to have prior knowledge on the subject, activities are constructed in several different ways, staying active and reflect, and most of all keep the students socially connected with their peers. It is important to keep a class full of students happy! One great way to do that is to switch the agenda up once in a while. I would assume that it would not be a great idea to hold a constructivist activity every class. However, if you learn to switch things up every so often, then the student will look forward to that activity because he or she knows it will be fun and engaging and the best part about it is that beyond the students getting involved, they are learning! Here is an example of a constructivist lesson plan, you have a classroom of second grade student, they are just learning how to add inches, feet, graphing etc. You bring in several different types of candy and distribute a little package which contains two cookies, one long twizzler, ten miniature Hershey kisses, and a small bag of M&M’s to each group. Now that you have coordinated your groups and distributed all of your candy you are now ready to begin the lesson. First, you assign a group leader, then you allow the leader of each group choose who will be in charge of what candy. At this point the children have created sub groups; now as the teacher you give them the work. On the board you will have two different projects, the first one will have the miniature heresy’s, they will measure the candy to find out that each candy equals one inch, then the next one- the M&M’s will create a bar graph on their different color M&M’s, lastly, the cookies and twizzlers will be measured and compared. Once each sub group has completed their mini project they will get back into their larger groups where they will discuss their results. Once they have shared their results each sub group will come up and present their results and experience. This will give the entire class a chance to compare their work with others, work together, socialize, and most importantly, in the end they would know how to measure, make comparisons or construct a bar graph. Finally, as a reward, the students will be allowed to discuss upon themselves who will get to take which candy home. This would conclude your constructivist activity!