Constructivism and Vygotsky´s theory by Juan Carlos Meza

Constructivism and Vygotsky´s Theory      

 By Juan Carlos Meza

Definitions

Language is the system of communication that can be combined between words symbols or letters. Language is the way we express different ideas, knowledge and emotions.. Language is only used by us the humans because no other species can on our planet. Language is verbal which means we use words to communicate, symbolic because we use it through written texts and readings.

Learning is when you receive different types of information and your brain retains that information and saves it so later on you can go back and use it. People learn in different ways through their sight, hearing or touching etc.

The teaching process is much combined with the learning; since we are born we have different teachers in front of us. Only when we are introduced to the school is when we interact with others and we depend on them to give us knowledge in a formal way.


Restating the theory

Constructivism is not a new concept; it was first supported by John Dewey in the last century. Jean Piaget, who based his view of psychological development of children such that a child constructs understanding through many channels: such as reading, listening, exploring and experiencing his or her environment. Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist and philosopher and is associated with the social constructivist theory. He believed that the influences of cultural and social contexts played an important part in learning and supports a discovery model of learning. 3. Constructivism is child-centered, rather than curriculum based. Constructivism focuses on knowledge construction, not knowledge reproduction It is a belief that one constructs knowledge from one's experiences. The ideas and interests of children drive the learning process. Teachers are flexible- they are the facilitator, students construct new understandings using what they already know; they will construct from new learning experiences. Learning is active rather than passive; Children may need different experiences to advance to different levels of understanding. 

Bibliography

Hoover, W. A. (3rd de August de 1996). SEDL. Recuperado el 1st de March de 2016, de The practice implications of constructivism: http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedletter/v09n03/practice.html