Social Constructivism is the theory of students gaining their own knowledge through an active approach in the classroom guided by the teacher. Kamii and Lewis (1990) is used in Brewer & Daane's Article Translating constructivist theory into practice in primary-grade mathematics, they say that students are not only apart of a discovery of information, but in a social discourse involving explanation, negotiation, sharing and evaluating (Brewer & Daane 2002, p.417). Within social constructivism students go on a journey with their peers and teacher explore their topic, whether it be mathematics or science & technology students can benefit from the social interaction of bouncing idea off each other to build a deeper knowledge about their topic.
In the article by Brewer & Daane (2002), the purpose was to find out from eight teachers who taught mathematics from Kindergarten to Year 3 about their beliefs on constructivism. These teachers worked together in the same school and created a program called The Explorers, which ran from Kindergarten to Year 3; this program hopes to promote constructivism for the students learning. The group of teachers all had similar views on constructivism in four areas. The last one related directly to the social side of constructivism, they said that social interaction was vital for a proper approach at constructivism. The sharing of information and feedback techniques were useful for the teachers, but also important for students to have the same interaction; this involves group discussion as well as using the 'think pair share' approach and pair/group tasks (Brewer & Daane 2002).
I think that this article is a great example of the effects of a program dedicated to constructivism, i liked how it highlighted the main themes found when discussing the importance of using a constructivist approach. I personally am all for constructivism and its 'hands on' approach, a teaching world where teachers are handing out worksheet after worksheet is dying, these students in primary schools are still children and as children are probably the most active group of the population. Students respond by play, by introducing concepts to them in an interesting way; where they can enjoy, but also gain knowledge from the lesson.
The learning style that this ICT supports is auditory learners, they are able to make connections with listening to the person speaking on the sound file. Students are able to replay this ICT if they missed any important pieces of information so they are able to learn as much as possible.
This ICT is a good cognitive tool within the learning environment as sound files can deliver facts and information in the form of songs or spoken word.
The file could contain instructions for students to make sense of and follow. Students and teachers creativity is developed through coming up with new ideas for sound files and getting used to different ways making use of information.
References
Brewer, J., & Daane, C.J. (2002). Translating constructivist theory into practice in primary-grade mathematics, 123(2), 416-417.
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