•Jean Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology
•Cognitive
structures are patterns of physical or mental action that underlie specific
acts of intelligence and
correspond to stages of child development.
•Cognitive
development consists of a constant effort to adapt to the environment.
•Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory
•Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the
development of cognition.
•Full development during zone of proximal development
depends on full social interaction.
•The range of skill that can be developed with guidance
of a more competent other or with peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone.
•John Dewey
•Students
learn by “directed living” : combining learning with hands-on projects
•Students must
be engaged in meaningful and relevant activities which allow them to apply the concepts they are endeavoring to learn.
•Jerome Bruner
•Learning is
an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon
their current/past
knowledge. The learner selects and
transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to
do so.
•Socratic
dialog, spiraling curriculum.
•Papert’s Theory of Constructionism
•Knowledge is
constructed, not absorbed. Children
don’t “get” ideas, they make them. They
learn best when constructing
personally-relevant artifacts which they then reflect on and discuss.
•Ways in which
computers can change learning.