This chapter by far has been one of the most difficult concepts to understand. If I understood correctly constuctivism is knowledge that is aquired not by your surroundings but by what is inside you...mostly internal. I may have misunderstood though. One thing that I did read in the chapter that I really liked was constructivist assumption which basically says that teachers should engage their students more in the activities that they are teaching; teach outside the box. Any time you provide a fun activity while your trying to teach a child something will bring about positive experiences because besides learning, the child is having fun. It's really difficult for me to imagine a lot of the things that we have been reading because I am not a teacher but I do try to picture these things as a parent because as parents, i am certain we may apply a lot of the same concepts when we teach our children at home.
One factor that I found very interesting was TARGET which are factors that affect motivation and learning. I am doing my literature review on Motivational Theories and TARGET is a great example. It makes me wonder if teachers when creating their lesson plans use Tasks, for example when they are creating a particular activity. Do they use the following factors in their classrooms as well: Authority, Recognition, Grouping, Evaluation and Time. This can be an amazing tool for teachers to use to create a well-rounded learning environment.
I know that week after week I keep asking my classmates for examples of how they use some of these concepts in their classrooms and I do this because it helps me to understand things much better. So if there is any of you out there who read my blog, please post some of the ways you use TARGET in yours classrooms. Whatever you can share is of great value to someone who eventually wants to enter into the educational field.
