Designing for Learning

Six Elements in Constructivist Classrooms

`Intriguing ways of explaining the concepts of constructivist education. Excellent analogies and examples!' - Maryellen Towey Schultz, Assistant Professor of Education, Nebraska Wesleyan University

The purpose of the Constructivist Learning Design is to offer teachers and students of teaching a way to think about organizing for learning by their students, and a way to address the teaching dilemmas of balancing the required learning of education with the real learning of students. The authors describe six elements, each representing an important process in moving constructivist learning theory into classroom practice: Situation, Groupings, Bridge, Questions, Exhibit, and Reflections. Included in these elements is a basic framework for teachers to use as they think about organizing for learning by their students, and a way to play out each of the basic processes of constructivist learning in the course of a lesson. Assessment is also incorporated into each design element rather than seeing it as an end product of closing activity.