Talk:Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 2/2.5.1

Reader Responses
Constructivism...a popular theory that is believed to be the best student-centered approach out there. I really thought this article was well written and organized. Piaget and Vygotsky were leaders in the constructivist approach. Piaget truly believed that students learned by doing. That students learned by physically seeing, touching, smelling, sensing the world around them. A Piagetian classroom would be structured much like a Montessori classroom. There would be a lot of sensori-motor activities and physical manipulatives. Whereas Montessori believed in the value of quiet, independent work, Piaget believed in smaller groups where students work together to collaboratively solve problems. Vygotsky, on the other hand, believed that language was the main way we “construct” the world around us. More important than physical manipulatives was the role language played in our understanding. Children need to be read to, spoken to, and kept in language rich environments. Vygotsky believed that developing internal language, or self-talk, was the most fundamental of all capabilities. It is important to study child theory. It broadens the scope of understanding as to what students need from classrooms. Abitt002 (talk) 19:36, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Although constructivism is a fairly new philosophy, it is still an important one. I like that you discussed both Piaget and Lev Vygotsky theories on constructivism. It is important as a teacher to understand all of the different philosophies as well as the views on each philosophy so that you can figure out which ones to apply in your classroom. Rcoll029 (talk) 18:04, 10 August 2009 (UTC)