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APA REFERENCING DUE Date – 20th May 2021 – 10pm Word count 1500 Part A - 300 words - Briefly discuss constructivism apply it to classroom teaching for year 7-10. Part B 1200 WORDS Choose three (3) contemporary ICT ‘learning tools’ that are relevant to students in years 7-10. You are to critically examine your chosen tools and discuss the way each: * can be used to support constructivist approaches to learning and teaching (Learning Outcome4). * can be used to support/respond to the needs of diverse learners (Learning Outcome 4) * can be implemented safely, responsibly and ethically in a secondary school classroom environment (Learning Outcome 5) Each tool needs to answer the above 3 points and in 400 words The ‘learning tools’ you choose can be hardware (e.g, iPad, iPhone, GPS, fitness trackers, calculators, video cameras etc) or software/app (e.g., Wordle www.wordle.net, socrative www.socrative.com, Kahoot www.getkahoot.com, Zondle www.zondle.com, Memorize www.memorize.com, Inspiration 9 www.inspiration.com, Canva www.canva.com, Piktochart www.pictochart.com, Voicethread www.voicethread.com, Padlet www.padlet.com, Poll Everywhere www.pollev.com, Google Docs, ether pad www.etherpad.org or www.etherpad.net ). These are just a few examples of what exists. Do some exploring. Constructivism is a learning theory that focuses on the learner constructing their own knowledge and understanding of the world, so therefore their knowledge is personal and subjective and is based on their own experiences and social and cultural contexts (Pritchard & Woollard, 2010). Social constructivist theory is a sub theory of constructivism, and the role of others and social interaction in forming knowledge is key: culture and context are important, especially social context (Pritchard & Woollard, 2010). Reality, knowledge and learning are three aspects of social constructivist learning (Pritchard & Woollard, 2010). Reality is believed to formed and shared with others and is made by individual. Knowledge is created by the individual as a result of interaction between others, their environment, social and cultural factors and learning is believed as a social process that takes place within a social context (Pritchard & Woollard, 2010). There are two main forms of constructivism, psychological and social (Bochner, Duchesne, Krause & McMaugh, 2015). In psychological constructivism, the focus is on the individual and how they construct meaning (Bochner et al., 2015). In social constructivism, the focus is on the individual’s social context (Bochner et al., 2015). Those familiar with Vygotsky’s learning theory will know that an interaction between both individual and social factors are recognised as important for knowledge and cognitive growth (Bochner et al., 2015). In constructivism, the learner is perceived as an active participant, they are capable of self-regulating and engaging in metacognition: involving thinking about their learning (Bochner et al., 2015). Social interaction is key, as well as the idea that the individual is capable of finding out information and knowledge on their own and being an independent learner (Bochner et al., 2015). There are two forms of constructivist teaching strategies: discovery learning and inquiry learning (Bochner et al., 2015). Discovery learning involves the student changing factors in their learning space, experimenting and finding out connections between factors (Bochner et al., 2015). In inquiry learning, students form their own questions, ask them and find out the answers themselves (Bochner et al., 2015). Churchill et al. (2016) says there are some other forms of teaching strategies being: real life activities, reflection, group work, students presenting their own personal knowledge and engaging in scaffolding and guided practice (adapted from Baird and Love, 2003). Derewianka and Jones (2016) outline the teaching and learning cycle which adopts scaffolding practices to assist students to become independent learners in literacy. The idea of students being independent and constructing their own meaning is central to constructivism (Bochner et al., 2016). Why do we need technology in the classroom? It is an ICT capability in the Australian Curriculum. In addition, there’s the idea presented by Prensky (2005) that students in these days are digital natives: they are born within technological advancements and use in everyday life, therefore it should be implemented within their learning environments. The three tools that will be discussed are Inspiration9, Poll Everywhere and YouTube. Inspiration9, Juniu (2006) says it is a brainstorming software that enables students to create concept maps and plan diagrams. Students visually display their ideas and thoughts in a visual diagram. By using this tool, they are activity involved in constructing their knowledge on a topic and are given the opportunity to think about how they might implement their idea into a solution or in a response to an activity or problem (Juniu, 2006). We can see that it supports the use of concept mapping and other graphic organisers for students to present their ideas in a visual display, which enables them to share their ideas with others as well. So how does it support the constructivist approach? Furthermore, I believe that the student is implementing their own ideas and thoughts into the construction of a visual diagram, supporting the principle of the theory that learners are responsible for constructing their own meaning. It also supports discovery learning strategy, as the student is making connections between various ideas and engaging in the process of making meaning. It also allows the student to present their own personal perspective on a topic and share them with others, which is another key principle of constructivism – social interaction and sharing of knowledge. It supports and responds to the needs of diverse learners in terms of those that learn through visual learning, a learning style where the learner better understands information when ideas and concepts etc., are presented in a diagram. Students can organise information and analyse it much easier. Visuals mainly exist as a graphic organiser, which research outlined by Hall and Strangman (2008) show that it helps students get a better understanding of a topic and it also increases their vocabulary knowledge. In addition, the learner can implement their own ideas and therefore it suits the abilities of a vast range of students and they can all access the curriculum and activity regardless of their learning ability. How can it be implemented safely? It is a safe tool, which I believe is appropriate for a classroom environment. To ensure any tool is implemented safely, I would first check the website and ensure all pages and links are appropriate. In addition, I would get students to sign a consent form, to ensure that they are aware of the expectations when using technology in the classroom and that it is used responsibly and for educational purposes. Polleverywhere is a tool that enables students to make their own poll and ask questions, share them with an audience and responses are shown on a chart. Essentially, the steps are students prepare questions, present it to their peers and engage in discussion and they can interpret the results further. We can see it supports visual use and there is a question and answer, social interaction taking place. Juniu (2006) states that central to constructivism is students interacting with their environment and making their own interpretations, which occurs through this tool. In addition, Juniu (2006) states that constructivism involves students acquiring knowledge through practical experiences and then reflecting on such knowledge. This certainly takes place through the use of this tool. It supports the constructivist approach as students are taking part in a social interaction, which is a key principle of constructivism and the poll only works through the collaboration of others. It also supports inquiry based learning, as the student is making their own questions and gaining answers. They are learning how to learn through the use of asking questions and seeking answers. How does it support the needs of diverse learners? Students can choose their own learning questions and how they wish to present it, which supports students at different levels of ability. It also supports different learning styles. For example, charts and diagrams supports visual learners, auditory learners are supported through discussion, print outs of results can support students who learn better by reading and writing and kinaesthetically, there are students who can use a practical device to provide a response and they can also engage in social interaction and movement around the classroom in terms of discussing and sharing responses with their peers. Prior to taking part in the poll, students should be informed of what it’s about and give consent to participate, which upholds an ethical standard. The teacher should check each poll before it is presented to the class, to ensure it is appropriate. Again, students should adhere to a consent form and the use of technology in the classroom. YouTube is the third educational tool, it is an online interactive website where individuals create, view and share videos with others in a social network. It is supported by the collaboration of others, which as mentioned is a key principle of constructivism theory. It promotes exploration, which is another key principle –students learn by actively partaking in exploring and making meaning. If set with the task of making their own video, students are actively engaged in finding out information and presenting it and sharing it with others. In addition, if a teacher were to share a video with the class to support their learning and teaching practice, it supports the key principles of social constructivist theory, being that knowledge is accumulated and gained and learning occurs through and with the involvement of others, and that ultimately shapes and constructs our reality. We have searched how to write an essay and there is a vast variety of videos supporting that idea. How does it support the needs of diverse learners? It supports visual and kinaesthetic learners as it is visually dominant and if making their own video students would be actively participating. In addition, students have the autonomy to select the content and customise how they wish to present their knowledge– enabling all students to participate and actively engage in learning the curriculum. Kalantzis and Cope (2012) present the idea of different modes of meaning: being, for example, written, visual, gestural etc., and that ideas and knowledge can be presented in more than one way, which is a door way for diverse learners. This idea is identified as part of the Multiliteracies theory. YouTube supports this theory as there are different ways of presenting and learning knowledge, as we can see through the many videos on the one topic. Kalantzis and Cope (2012) also describe the construct of re-design, which refers to individuals interpreting and presenting meaning in a way that makes sense to them, and YouTube enables that as well. With YouTube, the idea of multi modes of