Constructivism Case Study

1. Both case studies use measurement and math. Both case studies used forms of individual contructivism to help solve problems using the discovery learning method.The difference between the two is in one case the teacher used the guided discovery method in which the teacher gave the students directions to find the solution to the problem. Yet this form of style was unable to get the students' mind moving, and may not have accomplished the concept of this form. The other case the teacher allowed the students to come up with their own ideas and form their own hypotheses to solve the problem. This style got the students' brains turning and they were able to come to a conclusion of why it was important to have a standard form for measurement.

2. Having a constructivist approach can have its positives and negatives. Some students may learn better by just lecturing and having the students read straight from the book. Some students may learn more effectively by having thought provoking activities for the student to think and come up with solutions to the problem. As the student is involved in discovery learning it engages the student to come up with a solution by him or herself. The student would take in the different hypotheses from all the different students to form their own solution to the problem. The inquiry-based model might come with problems as the case showed at first because the students were not able to start their thinking at first. but then as the first idea was presented, it got the ball moving and others were able to feed off of that first idea. This form of teaching may take more time than your traditional lecture and power point form of teaching. But this form of teaching gets the students thinking and solving the problems on their own and were able to work through the problem.

3. In the constructivist lesson the students are engaged in thinking critically to solve the problem. The students have to use logic and reasoning to discovery how to solve this problem. They come up with a hypotheses and test their idea. In one case the students decide to measure the boat by how tall the student is. They test their hypotheses and come to the conclusion that all people are not the same size and could get different answers based upon how tall someone is. Then by using the information that they created about an individuals height, they come up with a different hypotheses to test. The students have to critically think and come up with ideas to solve the problem.

4. I would argue that a constructivist activity is an authentic activity. In definition, authentic activity is based upon real world experiences and concepts. The students had to come up with how big the ship was to tell the King. This was a real world experience in that they had to solve the problem with their own ideas.