Constructivism and Learning in the Age of Social

Media: Changing Minds and Learning Communities

Article in New Directions for Teaching and Learning · December 2015

DOI: 10.1002/tl.20160

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Dawn E Schrader

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2 Social media provide new means and opportunities for learningthat are consistent with major tenets of both social and cognitiveconstructivism, and extend the process of learning and meaning construction to more diverse communities and universally accessible shared activities that are jointly and concurrently engaged in by both peers and experts.

Constructivism and Learning in the Age of Social Media: Changing Minds and Learning Communities

Dawn E. Schrader

Constructivism as a meaning-making philosophy that informs pedagogi- cal practices dominated the past several decades of educational practice. At its base, various forms of constructivism hold that meaning making and learning are created through active engagement with knowledge and in so- cial interaction. With rapidly evolving new media and technological tools, the next major iteration of the constructivist learning paradigm is how to use new media to promote learning. Constructivist theoretical concepts blend beautifully with technological affordances provided by social media. From both an individual and community perspective, learning is enhanced through media that connect people through communities otherwise un- available or unreachable without it. Education as a field of study, and as a process of learning and teaching, would do well to take advantage of the current technological revolution and challenge long-standing teaching and learning paradigms.

Overview of Constructivism and Social Constructivism

Constructivist theories of learning traditionally refer to how the mind con- structs knowledge and are typically rooted in the tradition of genetic epis- temology of Jean Piaget. This tradition of constructivism focuses on the knower’s reflexive and reflective abstraction of interactions with objects and others in the environment. In comparison, and some argue in contrast, con- structivist theories based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective describe joint construction of meaning through community activity and distinctly

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING, no. 144, Winter 2015 © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/tl.20160 23

24 CONSTRUCTIVISM RECONSIDERED IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

locate the knower in the traditions, tools, symbols, artifacts, and language of the learning community. In looking closely at the processes and products from constructivist and sociocultural constructivist views, they share more commonalities than divergences.

Piagetian-Based Constructivism. Constructivism traditionally is considered to focus on how people make meaning of or construct knowl- edge when interacting with content knowledge and the active processes of this interaction. This can happen both individually as a single “epistemic knowing agent”—as Piaget referred to the knower, learner, and constructor of knowledge—or in a group of peers or more expert others. For Piagetian constructivists the focus is on the knower and on peer relations, equalizing power and relationships to create optimal challenge and support for inves- tigating knowledge. The process of construction of meaning, of learning, and of knowledge development involves active engagement with the objects and people in the environment, a sense-making reminiscent of the child as a philosopher or a scientist (Dewey 1933; Papert 1999; Kohlberg 1968). James Mark Baldwin’s fundamental conceptualizations of knowledge cre- ation on which Piaget so heavily relied were grounded prominently in the dynamic interaction between the person and the social and physical envi- ronment. Baldwin states, “The individual is found to be a social product, a complex result, having its genetic conditions in actual social life. Individu- als act together, not alone—collectively, not singly” (Baldwin 1909, 211).

Piagetian-based constructivism uses the process of assimilation, ac- commodation, and equilibration—borrowed from evolutionary biology— as the mechanism by which increasingly complex understandings are cre- ated. This is also called “intellectual adaptation” and involves the “fit” between a knower’s current understandings, knowing system, view, or lens (all terms used interchangeably by Piagetian-based theorists) through which she interprets the world and her engaged experience.Provide a detailed description of Constructivism Theory. Include who was originator of the theory and when the theory was established. Identify Piaget’s version of the theory. Describe the theory s components. Must be 6 pages in length. In the attachments is a great article to use. All references must be PDF studies within the last 5 years.

Answer these questions:

1.Social constructivism is a useful way to understand the lived experiences of psychologists in therapy sessions because…

2. The motivations for engaging with social media are explored through a constructivism lens by…

3. Constructivist theories applied to an inquiry into how participants confront and reconcile privacy challenges is useful because

4. How mental health professionals make decisions in response to ill-defined problems is clarified by aspects of social constructivist theories such as

Caffarella, R. S., & Merriam, S. B. (1999). Perspectives on adult learning: Framing our research. In A. N, EDITOR (Ed.), 40th Annual Adult Education Research Conference Proceedings (pp. PAGE-PAGE). CITY: Northern Illinois University