Constructivism and Instructional Design: The Emergence of the Learning Sciences and Design Research.

Goal:

To provide more details on Constructivism and its affect on the instructional design practices and the emergence of a new academic field - learning Sciences based on the constructivist approach.

Some terms defined before defining Constructivism

Pedagogy: strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction.

Philosophy: the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.

Epistemology: branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge.
Psychology: an academic and applied discipline which involves the scientific study of human (or animal) mental functions and behaviors.

Ontology: philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality in general, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.

(Definitions copied from Wikipedia.org)

Theories: A coherent statement or set of statements that attempts to explain observed phenomena; A logical structure that enables one to deduce the possible results of every experiment.

(Definition copied from wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

Constructivism

• It is not a learning theory but an epistemological and ontological conception of what reality, knowledge, the mind, thought, and meaning are.
• It is a philosophy that underlies theories from which pedagogies and models are derived.
• Constructivists believe that reality is constructed by individuals and social groups based on their interactions and interpretations of the world and that knowledge is embodied in human perceptions, imaginations and mental and social constructions.
• Constructivism has brought a shift in focus of Instructional Design Process. From just conveying knowledge to the learners effective strategies are proposed to actually immerse the learners in such experiences and practices. This shift in focus has led to the emergence of a new field “Learning Sciences”.

Scaffolding: Levels of support structure. Good instruction will reduce scaffolding.

Learning Sciences

• Learning is practice based rather than communicative.
• Learning sciences are research and theory based.
• Learning sciences are the convergence of design activity systems, cognition, and sociocultural context.
• Learning outcomes of Learning Sciences differ from Instructional Sciences as both are bases on different theoretical emphases.

Design Research

In learning sciences, research and design are integrated. Learning theories are developed while designing.

Design researchers use Formative Experiments, that is, they consider the process and the text in which learning takes place. Research is designed in Macro and Micro cycles and the feedback from microcycles is immediately applied and adjustments are made in the design using appropriate methods for further analysis. It is an iterative process.

Figure 5.1 Page 48 Reiser and Dempsey, 2nd Ed.