Professional development impacts

The central focus of constructivism is that knowledge is constructed by the individual and built on social context. In other words, knowledge is personally

38

constructed and reconstructed by the learner based on prior knowledge and experience.

Mandorin in Ekon, Ekwueme & Merenikwu (2014) stated that constructivism is a strategy of learning based on the belief that knowledge is not a thing that can simply be given or transferred by the teacher in front of the classroom to the learners seated at their desk rather, knowledge should be constructed by the learners through an active developmental process. The author further stated that it allows the students to interact with themselves, explore and work in groups. Corroborating the view, Richardson in Susanta (2016) opined that individuals create or construct their new understanding or knowledge through the interaction on what they already know and believe, as well as the ideas, events and activities with which they come in contact.

Constructivist learning environment places much premium on student’s prior knowledge or experiences. It demands that students are to be treated as individuals. No one’s knowledge is an accurate reflection of reality, there is opportunity for discussion and critical thinking. According to Mauhoney (2014) students come into the classroom with their own experiences and cognitive structures. These preoccupied structures could be valid, invalid or incompetent. The learner will reformulate the existing structures only if new information or experiences are connected to knowledge already in memory.

Memorised facts or information that has not been connected with the learner’s prior experiences will be quickly forgotten. In view of this, Akpan and Beard (2016) opined that learning activities must begin by considering the role of student’s current knowledge, how the knowledge is constructed and the role of the activities in building knowledge.

The teacher’s responsibility in the constructivist learning environment involves taking into account students’ prior knowledge and to understand the nature of the concepts to be

39

learned. The learning outcome expected, conceptual demands made on the child and the strategies available to the teacher must be understood. (Olorundara in Onogowo, 2015).

According to Audrey in Cey (2011), the characteristics of a constructivist classroom are as follows;

(a) The learner is actively involved (b) The environment is democratic

(c) The activities are interactive and student centered

(d) The teacher facilitates a process of learning in which the students are encouraged to be responsible and autonomous.

The major responsibility of a teacher should focus on providing a realistic learning environment for their students by modeling, through experimentation, leading questions and scaffolding to elicit student’s knowledge. Akpan and Beard further stated that a typical constructivist classroom environment is task oriented and designed to enhance hands-on and minds-on learning for all students similar to those encountered in the real world. Brooks and Brooks in Stefaniak (2013) suggested twelve strategies a teacher should exercise in order to move towards a more constructivist approach, namely:

(a) Encourage and accept students’ autonomy and initiative

(b) Use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative interactive and physical materials.

(c) Use cognitive terminology such as “classify, analyse predict and create”

(d) Allow students responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies and alter content.

40

(e) Inquire about students understanding of concepts before sharing their own understanding of those concepts.

(f) Encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another.

(g) Encourage student’s inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-end questions and encouraging students to ask questions to each other.

(h) Seek elaboration of student’s initial response.

(i) Engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion.

(j) Allow wait time after posing questions

(k) Provide time for students to construct relationships and create metaphor

(l) Nurture students’ natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model.

The learning cycle model according to Okwara-Kalu and Anusiem (2011) consists of identification of prior concepts, exploration/activities, discussion, dissatisfaction of prior concepts and application. Okwara-Kalu and Anusienu went further to explain each concept as follows:

Identification of Prior Concepts: This involves, the teachers trying to find out students’

prior knowledge or what they already know about the concept the teachers are about to teach. The teachers may choose to do so by asking some open ended questions or use any activity they think will help draw out the information required. Students’ view should be treated with respect no matter how illogical it may be.

41

Exploration of the Phenomenon: Having expressed their initial views held and

organised, children also are helped and organised to explore the ideas about the concept.

In this phase, the teacher is more or less a facilitator, encouraging students to gather appropriate information, conduct experiment and other activities that are necessary.

Discussion of the Investigation: Students at this stage will discuss their findings. Each

group will present report for discussion and correction. Every student should be made to participate in the discussion. The discussion will be learner-dominated, the teachers’

work should be to direct or moderate the discussion. The teachers, once in a while may chip in information they considers vital to the study.

Dissatisfaction with Prior Conceptions: Here, students are helped to reconcile prior conceptions or past knowledge on the topic taught, with the conceptions that emerged from their activities. The children may now feel dissatisfied with some of the prior notions. They should be encouraged to say those prior notions they have discarded and those they still cling to. If the prior notions they still cling to, are not consistent with those established in the lesson, they are made to return to stage two of the instructional sequences.

Application: The students are asked to relate their new conceptions to real life situations.

They should be encouraged to draw real-life examples from their own background and also to better express their feelings about the usefulness of the new ideas or conceptions.

42