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  Learning Theories

Constructivist theory

The area of constructivism, in the field of learning, comes under the broad heading of cognitive science. Cognitive science is an expansive area. It has its roots in the first half of the twentieth century at a time when academics from the disciplines of psychology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience and anthropology realised that they were all trying to solve problems concerning the mind and the brain. 

Cognitive science: a definition 

Cognitive scientists study (among other things) how people learn, remember and interact, often with a strong emphasis on mental processes and often with an emphasis on modern tech- nologies. Cognitive science investigates ‘intelligence and intelligent systems, with particular reference to intelligent behaviour’ (Posner 1984). 

Cognitive psychology: a definition 

Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as learning, perceiving, remembering, using language, reasoning and solving problems. 

Constructivism: a definition 

Constructivists view learning as the result of mental construction.That is, learning takes place when new information is built into and added onto an individual’s current structure of knowledge,understandingandskills.Welearnbestwhenweactivelyconstructourownunder- standing. 

The reference in the preceding paragraph to knowledge, understanding and skills refers to 1 what is commonly considered to be a description of the types of learning that we become 2 involved with.These three areas for learning are joined by a fourth and are: 3 

• knowledge 
• concepts
•  skills 7 

                                                                                                                                   9

In the concrete operational stage, children become more able to take another’s point of view 2 and they begin to be able to take into account multiple perspectives. Although they can 3 understand concrete problems, Piaget would argue that they cannot deal effectively with more 4 abstract problems. 5 

At the stage of formal operations, children are capable of thinking logically and in the abstract. 6 Piaget considered this stage to be the ultimate stage of intellectual development, and said that 7 although children were still in a position of having relatively little knowledge, their thought 8 processes were as well developed as they were ever likely to be. 9

Whether Piaget was correct or not, it is safe to say that his theory of cognitive development 40 has had a great influence on all work in the field of developmental psychology. Piaget’s view 41 

■ attitudes (DES 1985). 

It is within these four areas that all learning, in particular school learning, can be placed.We learn factual information; we learn to understand new ideas; we learn skills, both mental and physical; and we learn about, and develop, new attitudes to our environment. 

Piaget 

Jean Piaget, who is considered to be one of the most influential early proponents of a con- structivist approach to understanding learning, is one of the best known psychologists in the field of child development and learning. Many teachers are introduced to what is known as his ‘developmental stage’ theory, which sets out age-related developmental stages.The stages begin with the sensori-motor stage and end with the stage of formal operations.The developmental stage theory is a useful guide to intellectual growth, but modern thought has gone beyond Piaget’s view.Table 3.1 sets out Piaget’s stages. 

During the sensori-motor period, Piaget said that a child’s cognitive system is more or less limited to motor reflexes which are present at birth, such as sucking.The child builds on these reflexes to develop more sophisticated behaviour. Children learn to generalise specific actions and activities to a wider range of situations and make use of them in increasingly complex patterns of behaviour. 

At Piaget’s pre-operational stage, children acquire the ability to represent ideas and to engage
in mental imagery. In particular they do this through the medium of language.They have an egocentric view; that is, they view the world almost exclusively from their own point of view 30 and find it difficult to consider situations from another’s perspective. 1 

For Piaget, learning is a process of adjustment to environmental influences. He describes two basic processes which form this process of adjustment.They are assimilation and accommodation. Piaget’s view is influenced by his background in biology and he sees organisms, including human beings, as constantly seeking to maintain a stability in their existence. A physical example of this would be the maintenance of a constant body temperature. If external conditions change – get hotter, for example – a sophisticated organism will make physical changes in order to 1 maintain stability.The body’s temperature regulation systems come into operation and a constant 2 temperature is held. Piaget’s model for learning is similar. External experiences can have an 3 impact on what is already ‘known’. It could be that a new experience can add to and reinforce 4 ‘knowledge’ that is held or it could contradict existing knowledge. For example, a young child 5 might know that a small creature covered in fur, with four legs and having a tail, is a dog.The 6 more examples of dogs that the child comes across, the more secure this idea becomes. However, 7 a cat is also small, furry and has a tail. New environmental experience – being introduced to 8 a cat – contradicts the currently held knowledge and understanding concerning the definition 9 of a dog. The new information is added to the existing information, and gradually a deeper 10 and broader understanding of creatures with fur and tails is developed. 1

1 

Assimilation is the process whereby new knowledge is incorporated into existing mental 12 structures.The knowledge bank is increased to include new information. 13 Accommodation is the process whereby mental structures have to be altered in order to cope 14 with the new experience which has contradicted the existing model. 15 Equilibration is the process of arriving at a stable state where there is no longer a conflict 16 between new and existing knowledge. 17 A young child is introduced to a large white object in a kitchen and it is explained, 18 simply, that it is hot and should not be touched. The word ‘cooker’ is used and remembered 19 by the child. The child has an evolving mental structure which includes the images and 20 

ideas of a large white object, in a kitchen, the word ‘cooker’ and the idea that it should not 1 be touched.Very soon after this experience, the child may well walk towards the next large 2 white object in the kitchen, actually a fridge, and call out the word ‘cooker’.When corrected 3 by the more knowledgeable adult, a problem arises. The mental model for large white 4 objects in kitchens is incomplete and new experience is creating a contradiction for the child. 5 New information in the form of a simple explanation from a parent will add the new 6 information to the existing model and learning will have taken place.The unstable has been 7 made stable and the child can move on to a future encounter with a dishwasher or a tumble 8 drier. 9 

Piaget’s early work formed the basis of the constructivist movement. In constructivist learning 30 theory, the key idea is that ‘. . . students actively construct their own knowledge: the mind of 1 the student mediates input from the outside world to determine what the student will learn. 2 Learning is active mental work, not passive reception of teaching’ (Woolfolk 1993). 3 

In constructivist learning, individuals draw on their experience of the world around them, 4 in many different forms, and work to make sense of what they perceive in order to build an 5 understanding of what is around them. 6 

Within constructivist theory there are, naturally, different interpretations of the basic ideas 7 of the construction of knowledge and understanding. We will consider some of these 8 interpretations, in particular the notion of mental frameworks which hold items of knowledge 9 in a notional, complex structure, each item having numerous links to other related items, each 40 link defined according to connections and interpretations constructed by the ‘owner’.We will 41 

look at schema theory which gives a model of, and an explanation for, what underpins the complex process of building new knowledge and understanding. 

Schema theory 

Human beings understand the world by constructing models of it in their minds.
(Johnson-Laird 1983) 

Mental models, which have been described and examined by psychologists over many years (Piaget in the 1920s, Bartlett in the 1930s, Schank in the 1970s, Rumelhart in the 1980s, to mentionbutafew),andwhichformthebasisofschematheory,arenowfairlywidelyconsidered as a reasonable way of describing the way that the process of learning unfolds. Johnson-Laird tells us that mental models are the basic structure of cognition:‘It is now plausible to suppose that mental models play a central and unifying role in representing objects, states of affairs, sequences of events, the way the world is, and the social and psychological actions of daily life’ (Johnson-Laird 1983) and we are told by Holland that ‘mental models are the basis for all reasoning processes’ (Holland et al. 1986). 

To look more closely at the idea of a schema, we can describe it as a theoretical multidimensional store for almost innumerable items of knowledge, or as a framework with numerous nodes and even more numerous connections between nodes. At each node, there is a discrete piece of information or an idea.The piece of information can be in any one of a range of different forms – image, sound, smell, feeling and so on. Each node is connected to many others.The connections are made as a result of there being a meaningful link between the connected items.The links are personal, and identical items in the schemas of two different people could easily have very different links made for very different reasons, which could account for individuals having a ‘different understanding’ of a topic or idea. It is the adding of items to schemas and connecting them to other items that constitutes constructivist learning. There is no limit to the size to which a schema might grow.There is no limit to the number of connections within a schema which might be made, and there are no restrictions on how schemas might link and interconnect with other schemas. The more connections there are within and between schemas, the more construction has taken place and the more it is considered that knowledge and understanding has been gained; that is, learning has taken place. 

A schema can exist to represent a physical skill or action. An example of this might be related to handwriting: the correct way to construct a letter, the way in which spaces are created between words. A schema related to throwing a stone or a ball would be activated and then used as a basis for learning how to throw a javelin. The stone-throwing schema would not be directly or fully applicable in the case where a longer, heavier object to throw was to be used, where there are significant differences in style and posture required to be successful. However, a child with a well-developed schema related to throwing a ball or similar object would be able to develop it into a successful schema to use in a variety of ‘throwing’ situations. 

Figure 3.1 (based on Davis 1991) is an attempt to represent a schema, though it must be 1 understood that to draw a schema is essentially impossible.This representation is limited by 2 many factors, space being one.The notional ‘egg’ schema would have numerous links to other 3 schemas, and in itself constitute a tiny subset (or sub-schema) of a more expansive structure. 4 This particular restricted schema would form only a very tiny proportion of the whole 5 knowledge base of an individual. 6 

Prior knowledge has a crucial part to play in constructivist learning. An existing schema 1 represents the sum of an individual’s current state of knowledge and understanding of the 2 particular topic, event, action and so on. New learning concerned with the particular topic will 3 involve the processes of accommodation and assimilation, and the expansion and increase in 4 complexity of the schema in question. For this reason, it is very important that a schema that 5 is to be the focus of these processes in the introduction of a new area of work in school is 6 activated at the outset of a new topic, and reactivated each time the learning is to move on in 7 subsequent lessons. In simple terms, if new learning is to take place, it is a very good idea to 8 review what is already known about the topic in question.The starting point of what is already 9 known and understood is very important if any new learning is to be effective. Schema activation 30 is a process which can be encouraged in classroom situations, and teachers frequently make use 1 of this idea in their work. 2 

3

4 Schema theory: 

a summary 

Cognitive psychologists refer to units of knowledge, understanding and skill as schemas, as a 7 wayofreferringtoconceptualknowledgewhichisstoredinlong-termmemory.Itisestimated 8 that any adult would have hundreds of thousands of schemas in memory, which would be 9 

interrelated in an extremely large and complex number of different ways. New schemas are 40 regularly created and existing schemas are constantly updated.This creating and updating takes 41

Social constructivism 

The origins of the constructivist view of learning have their roots in the work of Piaget. Piaget’s view of the growing child was as what he called a ‘lone scientist’. This description gives an image of a child alone, exploring the immediate environment, and drawing conclusions about the nature and structure of the world. Social constructivism adds an important dimension to the constructivist domain. In social constructivist theory, emphasis is placed upon interaction between the learner and others.The others can come in many forms – it is the dimension of social interaction that is crucial to the social constructivists.The main proponents of this branch of constructivism are Vygotsky, a Russian whose work was carried out at the start of the twentieth century but not widely available in the West until many years later; and Bruner, an American publishing his work in the second half of the twentieth century. 

Social constructivism gives a high priority to language in the process of intellectual development. Dialogue becomes the vehicle by which ideas are considered, shared and developed. The dialogue is often with a more knowledgeable other, but this need not always
be the case. Dialogue with peers can be of equal value. Prior knowledge, naturally, has a part
to play. It is an individual’s prior and current knowledge that forms the basis of any contribution
to a dialogue. It is with reference to existing knowledge and understanding (schemas) that new
ideas and understanding can be constructed in the course of dialogue.When we consider the
more knowledgeable other, it is easy to assume that this person will be a teacher or a parent,
but this need not be the case. More knowledgeable need not imply older nor in a position of responsibility for learning. It is very often the case that learning will take place in very different environments. Most learning does not take place in school.Any social interaction with anybody 7 at all may well lead to learning.The building and exchange of thoughts and ideas which takes 8 place in the course of a discussion, in any context at all, is likely for at least one of the 9 participants, and often for both or all of them, to lead to a greater understanding of, or insight 40 into, the topic of the conversation. 41 

role of the more knowledgeable other in formal learning situations is usually taken by a teacher.The teacher has the role of stimulating dialogue and maintaining its momentum. In a very real way, the teacher engages groups and individuals in dialogue and supports the development of understanding.The undertaking of this role, in a planned way, has a particular name and is known as ‘scaffolding’.To fully understand the concept of scaffolding, we need to first look at an aspect of Vygotsky’s work, which is the notion of a zone of proximal development (ZPD). 

The zone of proximal development is a refreshingly simple description of something which many teachers and other adults understand and work with. It is an idea from Vygotsky’s work which has impacted on practice over the last 20 years or so as more importance has been given to the notion of differentiation in teaching. 

The zone of proximal development is a theoretical space of understanding which is just above the level of understanding of a given individual. It is the area of understanding into which a learner will move next. In the zone of proximal development, a learner is able to work effectively, but only with support.The zone is necessarily different for each individual child.The process of learning involves moving into and across the zone and looking forward to the next level of understanding, which will involve a similar journey through a newly created zone. Sewell (1990) explains it as ‘a point at which a child has partly mastered a skill but can act more effectively with the assistance of a more skilled adult or peer’. 

Passing through the zone of proximal development is a process which can be aided by the intervention of another. A teacher can fulfil this role and so can a range of other people or materials. In planning work for children, a teacher needs to take into account the current state of the understanding of the children in question, and plan accordingly and appropriately. 

Scaffolding is the process of giving support to learners at the appropriate time and at the appropriate level of sophistication to meet the needs of the individual. Scaffolding can be presented in many ways: through discussion – a good socially constructive approach; through the provision of materials – perhaps supplying practical apparatus to help in the solution of simple problems in arithmetic; or by designing tasks which match and give help appropriate to the individual – a list of words given to help in the process of completing an exercise designed to assist understanding, or a list of reminders concerning the process of undertaking the task in question; a writing frame to support a particular style of written piece is also an example. 

Working collaboratively, in pairs or small groups, is an obvious socially constructive approach to learning.The converse of this would be working in a silent classroom, where contact with others is discouraged.There are times when quiet individual working is useful and important, and teachers are able to describe times when a child should be encouraged to work quietly and alone. As a mainstay approach to teaching and learning, this would totally ignore all that we know about socially constructed learning. 

Metacognition 

‘Cognition’ is a global term which seeks to cover all of the mental activities that serve the 40 acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of knowledge. Cognition is the ability of the brain to think, 41 

Situated learning and authentic activity 

‘Situated learning’ refers to the fact that all learning takes place in a context.The context may or may not be familiar to the learner. If the context is unfamiliar to the learner, learning will not necessarily proceed smoothly. 

Situated learning (Lave and Wenger 1991), in part, suggests that skills, knowledge and understanding which are learnt, and even mastered, in one context may not necessarily be transferred successfully to another. Another aspect of situated learning, which is more relevant here, is the notion that learning can be situated in social and cultural settings, and that if a learning activity falls beyond the cultural understanding of the learner then learning is likely, at best, to be less successful than if it had been situated in a more familiar setting. For example, giving young children the task of investigating the pros and cons of fox-hunting when their cultural setting is a deprived inner-city area where contact with the countryside, with animals, domestic or wild, and the emotions associated with the discovery of ravaged lambs or roosting hens are alien to them, is very unlikely, without exceptionally detailed and sympathetic introductions and the provision of first-hand experience, to lead to good quality learning experiences. In order to introduce the children to the ideas of making a case, and arguing for particular points of view, it would be far more reasonable to invite them to consider something within their cultural domain. The same would almost certainly be true in reverse: children brought up in a rural environment with little experience of city life might well find it difficult to understand, and learn from, notions concerning overcrowded housing estates and parents fearful of letting their children play and roam freely. 

There is a link between the idea of learning being situated and the need for authentic learning tasks. Much has been written on this matter (see, for example, McFarlane 1997).Authentic tasks are ‘tasks which pupils can relate to their own experience inside and outside school; tasks which an experienced practitioner would undertake’ (Selinger 2001). When learning is made up of authentic tasks, there is a greater probability of engagement with the task and also with the information and ideas involved with the task.Authentic tasks are likely to hold the attention and interest of the children and lead to a deeper level of engagement than with another similar but ‘nonauthentic’ or, at least, less authentic task.This links closely with the ideas put forward by the sociocultural learning theorists. Bruner (1996), Brown et al. (1989) and others support the need for culturally linked and authentic learning tasks.This has the desirable effect of making the difference between learning in school and ‘out-of-school learning’ less well defined. Children working with new ideas in a familiar context are far more likely to engage with the ideas than if the same ideas are presented in an alien context. 

to process and store information, and to solve problems. Cognition is a high level behaviour which is thought, in many respects, to be unique to humans. Obviously the role of cognition in the processes of learning is crucial. ‘Metacognition’ refers to the idea of an individual’s considering, being aware of and understanding their own mental (cognitive) processes and ways of learning. It is cognition about cognition. An individual’s awareness of their own thought processes will have a bearing on the way that they view their own learning and is likely, with encouragement, to lead to recognition of the ways in which they might learn most effectively. 

Metacognition: a definition 

Metacognitive knowledge is the knowledge that an individual has about their own cognition, which can be used to consider and to control their cognitive processes.To work metacognitively is to consider and take active control of the processes involved in learning and thinking as they are happening. 

The term ‘metacognition’ is most closely associated with the psychologist John Flavell (1976; 1977). He tells us that metacognition consists of metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences or regulation. Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge about cognitive processes, which an individual has come to understand, and can be used to control mental processes. ‘Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge concerning one’s cognitive processes and products or anything related to them . . . metacognition refers, among other things, to the active monitoring . . . regulation and orchestration of these processes’ (Flavell 1976). Brown (1987) offers a simpler version of this when he says that ‘Metacognition refers loosely to one’s knowledge and control of [one’s] own cognitive system.’ 

An example of an approach to learning spelling which is influenced by ideas from metacognition involves talking explicitly about how to learn them. In the past, at least in the experience of many of us, teachers have been known to give the instruction:‘Write down these spellings and learn them for a test next week.’This is all well and good for some children, but for others it represents an insurmountable problem – how do they learn them? We all have very different approaches to tasks of this type and some children will find a way which helps them to learn lists of spellings, but many others will not. If attention is drawn to the fact that there are ways of approaching such a task and that different individuals may find different approaches more suitable, then the door has been opened to the world of developing strategies for accomplishing particular desired outcomes.This is an example of metacognitive awareness. One child may say something like this:‘I just photograph it and then I know it.’Another may say that they can only learn the spellings by repeatedly saying them aloud to a mum or dad. Another might talk about writing and rewriting the list; yet another might well say that they have no approach and are at a loss when it comes to attempting to learn them.As teachers we cannot say which strategy will suit which child, but we can provide opportunities for a group to pool ideas and discuss them.Then children can be encouraged to experiment with different 

approaches. One tried and reasonably successful approach to learning spellings or foreign 1 language vocabulary is the ‘Look-Say-Cover-Write-Check’ method. This involves mental 2 activity and the necessity to hold a spelling in short-term memory as well as immediate feedback 3 being provided. Once introduced, this method may or may not suit a particular child. It is hoped 4 that exposure to this method, and discussion of its purpose and value, at the same time as 5 considering possible alternatives, will allow children to decide, in a metacognitive mode, how 6 to approach the task in question. 7 

In a related example, sometimes children are completely lost when it comes to undertaking 8 simple mental calculation. Individual approaches to mental calculation vary widely and 9 some approaches seem complicated and difficult to one person but clear and simple to another. 10 The Cockcroft Report (DES 1982) found that the ways in which adults undertook mental 11arithmetic tasks varied enormously and that idiosyncratic approaches were very widespread. 12 This is wholly acceptable if arriving at the correct answer is the prime objective, but for young 13 children, trying to find their way with mental calculation, some insight into their own 14 approaches and processes is very important.This insight into how to think in what are, for some, 15 difficult abstract terms is metacognitive, and very helpful in the process of learning how to 16 undertake the task in question.Teachers can encourage approaches to develop metacognitive 17 awareness in simple ways; for example, by asking children to describe their own approaches, by giving value to the identification of the methods and processes followed by different individuals. Instead of being satisfied with a correct answer, a teacher can probe below the surface to discover the approach taken. This is also helpful when incorrect responses to mental calculation are given.The process of sharing and experimenting with different approaches to carrying out mental calculations in an environment that is safe and supportive can, in a socially constructive way, lead to individuals developing both a fuller understanding of their own processes of thinking and, in this case, an understanding of how to tackle particular tasks. 

A consideration of which approaches best suit an individual can be of immense value at times of ‘routine’ learning – such times as learning spellings, practising methods in maths or other factual content which needs to be internalised – but it is possibly more valuable when revision is undertaken for exams. Knowing how to best approach learning of this type can be considered by teachers and it is important to encourage learners, at every level, to discover how they learn and what suits them individually. 

Wray and Lewis (1997) single out four aspects of constructivist learning theory which they consider to be of paramount importance: 

■ Learning is a process of interaction between what is known and what is to be learnt. 

■ Learning is a social process. 6 

• Learning is a situated process. 
• Learning is a metacognitive process. 8 9 

From these four aspects of constructivist theory they go on to formulate four principles for 40 teaching: 

• Learners need enough previous knowledge and understanding to enable them to learn new things; they need help making links with new and previous knowledge explicit. 
• Provision should be made for social interaction and discussion in groups of varying sizes, both with and without the teacher. 
• Meaningful contexts for learning are very important; it must be remembered that what is meaningful for a teacher is not necessarily meaningful for the child. 
• Children’s awareness of their own thought processes should be promoted. 

All of what has gone before in this chapter points, more or less, to what should be a very important element of learning: that is, mental activity. Mental activity should be at the centre of our teaching methods and can be encouraged in a variety of ways.When dealing with new experiences, learning seems to proceed well if the points above are in place andif there is mental activity on the part of the learner. 

Mental activity 

Learning is not something that others can undertake on behalf of learners. It is something that learners must do for themselves.Adults – whether teachers, trainers or parents – cannot assume that if they exert thought and effort, directed towards teaching, then learning will be the inevitable result. Learning requires effort on the part of the learner, and without some effort and some mental activity, it is very unlikely that learning will take place. In the context of constructivist theory, learning is an active, not a passive, activity.Teachers continually put into place situations in which learning is likely, but without the required effort and activity on the part of the would-be learner, the outcome is not at all certain. Howe (1999) tells us that: 

Learning always necessitates mental activities being undertaken by the individual learner . . . Learning does not always have to be deliberate, but it does always require the engagement of mental processes. The mental activities of individual students form a particularly powerful source of influence on what is actually learned. 

We are also told that:‘The role of the teacher is to recognise the importance of mental activity 

in learning’ (Chastain 1971). 

Engagement 

Everything about the constructivist approach to learning, in a simple and practical way, points towards the importance of learners getting as close to the material content of what it is hoped they will learn as possible and then ‘doing’ something with it. By undertaking actions and activities, mental or physical, which centre on the facts, the concepts or the skills in question, learners are in a position to move forward in their learning.This ‘closeness’ is possible in a wide range of different ways and is sometimes referred to as ‘engagement’. 

For children to understand new information, they must become actively involved with it; 1 that is, they need to engage with it.There is a five-stage model for learning, put forward by a 2 group of Australian teachers and academics, which puts engagement at the start of the process 3 of learning; which takes a wholly constructivist approach; and within which the importance 4 of the individual and of activity are stressed. As we have seen, from the constructivist point of 5 view, learning is not a passive process and so, with reference to what is known about effective 6 learning, and with due attention paid to the notion of engagement, it is possible to map out 7 approaches to learning that encompass the best and most effective of what is currently known 8 about learning. 9 

The five-stage model (Reid et al. 1989) sets out a route which, if followed, is likely to provide 10 the conditions required for learning to result: 11 

• engagement 
• exploration 

12 13 14 

■ transformation 15 

• presentation 
• reflection. 

16 17 18 

Engagement is described as ‘the time during which students acquire information and engage 19 in an experience that provides the basis for, or content of, their ensuing learning’ (Reid et al. 20 1989).The next stage in the model – exploration – is closely related to the stage of engagement. 1 This stage can be an open-ended process, where children follow their instincts, but possibly a 2 more profitable approach for teachers to take with their classes is to set short tasks which develop 3 both engagement and exploration.These tasks are designed to give the child an overview of 4 what is contained in the information under consideration and may take many forms, including 5 reading and writing tasks; finding things out and answering questions; more manipulative 6 activities; matching and comparing; drawing or compiling charts or diagrams; discussing and 7 arguing, in pairs or in groups; and many other diverse and related tasks. 8 

Transformation is the stage in which information with which the child has engaged, and has 9 explored, might be reconfigured into a form which allows for presentation (the next stage) but, 30 importantly, transformed into a format which will, from the teacher’s point of view, enable 1 learning objectives to be met. From the point of view of the child, certain questions will now 2 be able to be answered. 3 

Transformation and the resultant presentation is not the end of the process.Time to reflect 4 upon what has been undertaken, the process and the content, gives the opportunity for 5 internalisation, and for a deeper level of understanding to be developed. Reflection can also take 6 many forms. One common approach is to ask children to give a short presentation/explanation 7 of what they have been doing and what they have learnt.This can take a variety of different 8 formats, prepared for a variety of different audiences – a poster to display, a newspaper front 9 page, a multimedia presentation, or something as simple as a 30-second explanation of what 40 they have been doing in the lesson, possibly including what they have learnt. This idea has 41 

become a part of the plenary session which now forms an integral part of lessons, especially concerning literacy and numeracy, in British primary schools. 

Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987) describe a model of the writing process which they term ‘knowledge transformation’. Knowledge transformation can be seen as the reshaping or reconstruction of information in order to answer certain questions, to help meet particular learning objectives and to assist the learner in the process of coming to understand the content of their learning activity.This model is characterised by the writer alone accomplishing what is normally accomplished through the medium of social dialogue. Knowledge is considered and ‘worked upon’ by the individual – engagement takes place. This dialogue, which forms an important element of the thinking that underpins social constructivism, is seen as the medium through which learning takes place.A child working alone cannot take part in an actual dialogue, which has the possibility of allowing engagement with the knowledge and ideas of the topic in question, but by undertaking a process of knowledge transformation, a similar process may come into play and effective learning may be possible. 

Encouraging engagement 

We have seen that without engagement with the content of an activity, effective learning is far less likely to be the result of anything that teachers ask children to do. It can be surmised that an important element of the role of the teacher is to encourage engagement, since without some measure of involvement with information and ideas, and the undertaking of activity centred on the content (Bereiter and Scardamalia’s knowledge transformation, for example), there is a greatly reduced opportunity for effective learning to take place, especially the deep learning which is the aim of most teaching situations. 

There are many effective ways of encouraging children to engage with their work.Taking into account the prior knowledge of the children, the level of difficulty, the social and cultural context, and the general level of interest of the subject matter will all help with the need for engagement. 

Certain guidelines can apply to the planning of lessons. Lessons: 

• need a clear focus and goals, with explicit learning objectives; 
• need to be based upon the pupils’ existing knowledge; 
• need to be set in an appropriate context; 
• need to include scope for social interaction and for activity; 
• need to be planned in such a way that they aim to move the pupils’ learning forward (across the ZPD). 

The points above can all be traced back to what is known about the way that we learn, and to the work of many psychologists and educationalists in the field of learning. It would be unrealistic to suggest that, if all of the above were in place, then effective learning is certain to 

result, since, as all teachers know, there are a great many variables, some of which are 1 controllable and others that are not, which can so easily influence the outcome of any particular 2 lesson. However, taking into account what is known about learning, and about how children 3 learn, will increase the possibility of effective learning resulting from the activity undertaken. 4 

5 6 7 8 9 

Learning is a relatively permanent change in mental associations as a result of experience.The 10 changes in mental associations are internal and cannot easily be observed. 11 12 13 14 The importance of mental activity (engagement) for effective learning is at the heart of the 15 way that cognitive psychologists describe and understand the process of learning. 16 17 18 19

 Constructivist learning theory is built around a set of important features which can be summed 20 

up as follows (after Jonassen et al. 1999): 1 

2

Summary
Cognitivist definition of learning 

Mental activity 

Essential features of constructivism 

■ The construction of knowledge and not the reproduction of knowledge is paramount. 

3 It is the processes that the learner puts into place and uses that are important, rather than 4 the fact of knowing something as an end product. A learner is actively engaged with, and in 5 control of, the learning process. 6 7 8 When learning involves the use of a variety of resources (e.g. first-hand experience, 9 

secondary sources, interactive materials, independent research, dialogue), alternative viewpoints 30 of the subject in question are formed; this in turn can be used to foster the skills of critical 1 thinking. 2 

3

■ Learning can lead to multiple representations of reality. 

■ Authentic tasks in a meaningful context are encouraged. 

4 Authentic tasks, such as problem-solving, are used to situate learning in familiar and realistic 5 contexts. 6 7 8 Learners are prompted to relate new knowledge and concepts to pre-existing knowledge 9 

■ Reflection on prior experience is encouraged.
and experience, which allows the ‘new’ to integrate with what is known already and in this 40 

way adding to a learner’s framework of understanding (schema) or amending it. 41 32 

■ Collaborative work for learning is encouraged. 

Dialogue with others allows additional and alternative perspectives to be taken into account when developing personal conclusions. Different knowledge, points of view, and understanding can be given and considered before moving on. 

■ Autonomy in learning is encouraged. 

Learners are given, and accept, increasing amounts of responsibility for their own learning. This happens in a number of different ways: by collaborating with others, by working on self- generated problems and by the formulating of, and testing of, hypotheses, for example. 

The appendix includes a summary chart of the differences and similarities between the work of Piaget and Vygotsky. 

In the classroom 

• Opportunities for mental activity are essential; this leads to deeper engagement with ideas and increases the possibility of effective, lasting learning taking place. 
• Social interaction – that is discussion between pairs, groups and between teacher and pupils – is essential for the effective development of understanding. 
• Learning set in meaningful contexts is far more likely to engage learners than if it is set in other, random or remote contexts. Make learning meaningful by placing it in a setting with which children can identify. For example, when teaching about time, refer to the fixed points in the school day, bedtimes or the length of football matches.This may appear trivial, but it can make a big difference. 
• Encourage learners to review what they know about a new topic before embarking on new teaching. Ask questions. Remind the class of work from the previous term or year. 
• Encourage learners, with appropriate guidance, to find things out for themselves. 
• Gauge the processes of teacher intervention carefully so as to encourage thought processes. 

Telling is not teaching, but measured scaffolding is. 

• Encourage learners to think about and put into words the methods or approaches that they use in the course of their work – mental arithmetic, for example, or how to prepare for a test. 
• Allow time for learners to reflect upon what they have learnt.Well-managed plenaries at the end of lessons are very good for this.