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  • Read Abstract

November 1999 | Volume 57 | Number 3
The Constructivist Classroom

Issue Table of Contents | Read Article Abstract

EL Extra

Welcome to EL Extra. We have designed questions to help you and your colleagues foster meaningful discussions around the current Educational Leadership.

The study guide may be related to a particular article, a group of articles, or a theme that runs through the entire issue. Our questions will not cover all aspects of the issue, but we are hopeful that they will help you generate a conversation around key ideas. Feel free to adapt the questions to be more relevant to your school or school district—and you may even want to think of some of your own. Although you can consider many of the questions on your own, we encourage you to use them in pairs, small groups, or even large study groups.

Reflecting on Constructivist Teaching and Learning

After reading “The Many Faces of Constructivism,” by David Perkins (pages 6-11), and “The Courage to Be Constructivist,” by Martin G. Brooks and Jacqueline Grennon Brooks (pages 18-24), consider the following questions.

  • What does the term constructivism mean to you? Write your own definition of constructivism, giving a few examples. Share your definitions in pairs or in larger groups.
  • Think of a recent lecture that you gave to your class or traditional activity that you implemented. How might you transform the lecture or activity by using a constructivist approach?
  • Consider the three roles in constructivism: the active learner, the social learner, and the creative learner.

Brooks and Brooks describe how new standards and testing might constrict a teacher’s ability to use constructivism in the classroom.

  • Do you agree or disagree? How might your district or school balance the need to prepare students for high-stakes tests with constructivist teaching and learning?
  • What are the drawbacks of constructivism? Can you give an example?

Howard Gardner’s Understanding Pathway

In “The Understanding Pathway” (pages 12-16), Howard Gardner talks with EL editor Marge Scherer about how students who learn in many different ways can think about deep questions in their lives.

In his new book The Disciplined Mind, Gardner chooses three subjects as ways to approach the disciplines and probe essential questions: Mozart, the Holocaust, and evolution (see page 14).

  • Come up with three subjects that would resonate well in your school, district, and community.
  • How might Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory provide points of entry into these subjects?

Gardner says, “Education should prize students who act morally and give students a chance to produce as well as to appreciate natural and man-made beauty.”

  • Do you agree or disagree?
  • How might these ideas be implemented and even assessed in your school?

Copyright © 1999 by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Requesting Permission

  • For photocopy, electronic and online access, and republication requests, go to the Copyright Clearance Center. Enter the periodical title within the "Get Permission" search field.
  • To translate this article, contact permissions@ascd.org

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