An assignment for my grad course in Theories of Instruction required me to explore my philosophy of education and teaching. Here is the final result of that process. Enjoy!
The theory of learning that best matches my beliefs is Constructivism. Constructivism calls on the learner to be engaged by being active, social, and creative. This requires that teachers facilitate learning environments where these three fundamental concepts can occur. According to Phillips (1995) constructivism generally casts learners in an active role. Instead of just listening, reading, and working through routine exercises, they discuss, debate, hypothesize, investigate, and take viewpoints (p. 7). Snowman et al. (2009) stresses that students should see meaningful connections between content and skills and the real world thorough some authentic, real life activities to create shared understanding (p. 340). Although the goals of traditional education seem logical, they lack a quality that is essential for students -- purpose. Students are not seeing the connection between Ancient Rome and modern times. They do not understand the purposes for being drilled on odd bits of English grammar. The three Rs, and all other aspects of the traditional education, can be mastered through more engaging methods. Lesson planning shifts from focusing on teacher delivery of content to designing collaborative projects that tap into cross-curricular content, abstract concepts, and leaning in meaningful ways (Knobel & Wilber, 2009). A new emphasis should be placed on constructivism with a focus on researching, solving problem, and community service projects.
The most fundamental purpose of education is to improve society. Improving society can only happen through educating minds that they possess the ability and power to change problems in our world. The end of the last century gave rise to the greatest explosion in information since Gutenberg’s printing press was created; except now, the printing press is not controlled by a select few, it is controlled by the masses. Now we live in a world of information abundance, the average person sees more print information in a day than their 1700s counterpart saw in a life time. The time for memorizing small bits of information is over. Students now need the skills to understand how to locate, comprehend, synthesize, evaluate, and effectively use information. As Scherer (1999) points out, we do know quite a lot about the learning process now. We know, for example, that individuals are more likely to retain knowledge that they learn through active problem solving; and that learning is often a social process, enriched by the insights of others (p. 5). Students must see meaningful connections between content, skills, and the real world. It must be understood by students that they can change the world with action and knowledge.
Much of our current society is built on systems that pacify the individual. People are encouraged to be watchers and observers, but not encouraged to take part in influencing or changing a situation. Traditional education feeds into this problem by making students empty vessels that knowledge must be poured into. The learner is passive and assumed a fool. It is my belief that education should serve to change the individual’s personality from passive to active. According to Müller, Sokol, and Overton (1998), in the constructivist model, humans construct mental structures that, in turn, organize experiences and make further understanding possible. The learner must be actively involved in learning in order of new know to form within the human mind. No better way exists to make students active learners than to have them interact with real world problems and issues with other students (either locally or globally). Through becoming an active member of society, the individual can invoke meaningful change to society. History can be used as a guide for avoiding past mistakes; history can also be a guide that provides exemplar models of behavior, achievements for inspiration, and a way to review both good and bad aspects of societies. However, the most important goal for students to comprehend must be the concept that the future will be better and different from the past, if they strive to shape it.
These ideals come across in my teaching in several ways. As Perkins (1999) states troublesome knowledge of various kinds invites constructivist responses to fit the difficulties—not one standard constructivist fix (p. 11). My students are asked to explore the ideas of literature and writing at the very beginning of the year. We ask questions and search for answers together. Although I do not tell the students what we will study, they often end up choosing similar concepts to what I had in mind: why do we study literature? What is literature? How has literature been used to change society? How is writing powerful and why? How can writing be used to change and shape society? These ideas build a base that makes the study of literature more than just reading another novel, poem, article, or short story. There is a purpose for reading and writing; they can help solve problems in society.
A perfect example of this was a project my students did based off a reading of Candide by Voltaire. Throughout the novella, we discussed why and how Voltaire wanted to write Candide. We also discussed how, through the use of allusion, he was able to make comments about King Louise XV, but avoid directly naming the king, which would have led to Voltaire’s death. This led us to discussions about situations within US and Korean societies that we found distasteful and how we could employ allusion to comment on society without getting into trouble with the law. As Windschitl (1999) states students can share their understandings at the beginning of a lesson or unit through whole-class discussion, small-group dialogue, or drawings that represent those understandings (p. 2). After some exploration of possible methods of communication -- essays, videos, dramas, presentations -- we came to the idea of Manga (Japanese style graphic novels). As a group we decided to make graphic novels inspired by Manga to criticize some aspects of US or Korean culture. According to Windschitl (1999), in constructivism, learning begins with what the students already know (p. 1). All of the students poured their hearts into rebuking aspects of society they personally found loathsome, but the best of all the comics was a 35-page hand-drawing comic call The Successful Life which told the tale of a boy forced to give up his dream of playing soccer to go to Korean hagwon (cram-school) to study for the university entrance exam and how it changed his life for the worse. In the feedback forms that my students filled out, most communicated that they felt like they had struck a blow to the societal problem they wrestled with in their comics. Windschitl (1999) states that students in constructivist settings conduct their own investigations, deal with community problems, or engage in debate. Here I could witness my students being active, social, and creative all at once.
My school supports this style of project learning by requiring students to perform community service for graduation. My students are encouraged to build community service projects to help make Korea (and the world) a better place. Examples in literature become both negative and positive models. The great authors provide us with assistance in understanding how to affect the future. Writing becomes a vehicle for finding community members or institutions that can assist in the project. We write emails, business letters, journals, poems, and stories about our projects as well as produce documentaries, music videos, and public service announcements. As Windschitl (1999) affirms that students in constructivist programs work in social environments, building on the ideas of others in collaborative contexts. In Model United Nations(MUN) our students work to understand how the United Nations works by running and participating in a mock United Nations summit. At our school we host one event for all the international schools in Korea and some from Japan; after this, our students travel to the regional MUN summit in Singapore. Habitat for Humanity(HfH) was brought to our school community be a student from the Class of 2006 and does two trips a year to underdeveloped nations in the region to help build homes, schools, and hospitals. Our Acts of Compassion club was founded by two members of the Class of 2011 and donates their time to raise awareness about animal rights and volunteer at a local animal shelter. Key club raises donations of money and goods for an orphanage in Laos. The Medical club was founded by two members of the Class of 2012 and volunteers at local hospitals to help with clinical exams and translation services for foreigners. TEDxYouth Seoul was founded by a member of the Class of 2013 and is hosting its second youth TED Talk on the campus of a local university. The Environmental Awareness club was founded by two students from the Class of 2011, who formed the club to gather research on actions the school community could take to lessen our environmental impact. After presenting their findings to the administration, the list of actions were adopted as official school policy. Finally, our National Honor Society (NHS) club raises money for building wells in Africa; plus, they participate in Famine 24 where they fast for 24 hours to raise awareness of famine in underdeveloped nations. All of these programs help our students make a positive impact on the world they live in and demonstrate to them that they can be active agents of change in this world, not simply passengers. According to Windschitl (1999), students demonstrate what they know through authentic performances in a constructivist educational program. Again we are helping students find ways to be active, social, and creative.
We can spend our time pouring information into an empty mind, but we will never keep up with the amount of information there is to know. We must give students ways to deal with information on their own. Methods to locate, comprehend, synthesize, evaluate, and effectively use information. While doing this, we need to explore how society can be improved for the future. Educating children in this way achieves all the goals of traditional education plus we receive a member of society who has the ability to make positive change. Constructionism is a better way.
Works CitedKnobel, M. & Wilbur, D. (2009). Let’s talk 2.0. Whether it’s web 2.0 of literacy 2.0, it’s a whole new way of thinking, Educational Leadership, 66(6), 20-24.
Müller, U., Sokol, B., & Overton, W. (1998). Reframing a constructivist model of the development of mental representation: The role of higher-order operations. Developmental Review, 18, 155–201.
Perkins, D. (1999). The many faces of constructivism. Educational Leadership, 57(3), 6-11.
Phillips, D. C. (1995). The good, the bad, and the ugly: The many faces of constructivism. Educational Researcher, 24(7), 5–12.
Scherer, M. (1999). The c word. Educational Leadership, 57(3), 5.
Snowman, J., Dobozy, E., Scevak, J., Bryer, F., Bertlett, B., & Biehler, R. (2009). Pyschology Applied to Teaching: 1st Australian Edition. Qld: John Wiley & Sons.
Windschitl, M. (1999). Constructivism and computers. Educational Leadership, 57(3), 1-2.
