Collaboration

Jasmine Turner, Aspire STAR

 

Humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group”!  The conceptual framework of Educational Entertainment combines the thoughts and perspectives of various theorists who embrace constructivist principles. The educational psychologists Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, and Glasersfeld provide perspectives on Edutainment from a theoretical basis. These theorists, along with many others, promote the constructivist beliefs that; the learner is a unique individual, the learner is responsible for learning, the instructor is responsible for facilitation, and learning comes through social engagement (Brooks, 2004; Bruner, 1996; Vygotsky, 1986; Piaget, 1972; Glasersfeld, 1995):

• Piaget proposed the constructivist learning theory because he believed that we learn through a systematic building process of constructivism (Piaget, 1972). 
• Bruner suggested the theory of instruction that described how applying constructivist principles to instructional practice could produce learning gains (Bruner, 1966). 

• Vygotsky build on this theoretical framework by presenting a socio-cultural theory of learning, which taught the importance of social interaction in constructive learning (Vygotsky, 1986). 
• Glasersfeld, explained the importance of knowledge is the self-organized cognitive process (Glasersfeld, 1995).  

In the Book, In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classroom, Brooks explains how the theoretical framework of constructivism is impacting social change in the modern classroom.  Technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles.  A major commonality among theses theoretical viewpoints is the idea that curriculum and instruction centers on the individual learner; such thinking makes up the conceptual underpinnings of constructivist practice (Brooks, 2004; Bruner, 1996; Vygotsky, 1986; Piaget, 1972; Glasersfeld, 1995). Constructivist theory has contributed immeasurably to our understanding of development and learning.
Many instructional strategies have grown from constructivist beliefs that learning is accomplished best through hands-on approaches. Learners discover by experimentation using inferences to build upon knowledge that they already posses, evaluate perceptions, and reconstruction of new thoughts (Brooks, 2004; Bruner, 1996; Vygotsky, 1986; Piaget, 1972; Glasersfeld, 1995) Current research  supports collaboration as an effective tool for learning. ( For more information on Radical Constructivism- Ernst von Glasersfeld). Educational Entertainment leads the student through the process of accommodation, by expressing and reforming mental representations of the outside world, as they participate in new enjoyable experiences. Designing instruction that allows the learner to act on his or her perceptions of the world is the beginning of helping the student to see flaws in certain expectations and creating new knowledge to accommodate for recent experiences.

References:

            Brooks, Jacqueline Grennon and  Brooks, Martin G. (2004). In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms.

             Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, 

              MA: Harvard University Press

Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

             Piaget, J. (1972). Psychology and Epistemology: Towards a Theory of Knowledge. 

Harmondsworth: Penguin. 

J. Turner, Aspire STAR commented @

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