Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

CHAPTER 39
Constructivist/Engaged Learning
Approaches to Teaching and Learning
CYNTHIA CHEW NATIONS
The author facilitated a class entitled “Inquiry-Based Instruction.” The main objective of the
class was to transform teacher leadership in instructional planning and implementation of
learner-centered pedagogy. This goal was accomplished through reading case studies, employing
effective learning experiences in the classroom, in-class activities and discussion, and
writing in a reflective journal. This writing includes teachers’ voices as expressed in these
reflective journals. (Permission was granted by students to use excerpts from their journals;
students’ names are not disclosed.)
In order to provide our children with the skills they need to function in today’s society,
constructivist theory and engaged learning practices and approaches have emerged as educators
struggle with questions about how to improve teaching and learning. This chapter will describe
teachers’ experiences and reflections as they examine their own fundamental belief systems about
teaching and learning.
Scenario 1: Forty-two middle school teachers are attending a professional development session
centered on changing paradigms in education. In their groups, the teachers are asked to divide a
large chart tablet in two columns. On one side they are asked to draw and describe the child of
yesterday and discuss how school, learning, the family environment, teachers, the community, and
society, were “back then.” In the second column, the teachers were asked to draw and describe the
child of today—how schools operate, how we learn, family environments and situations, teachers, the
community, and our society of today.
Scenario 2: A group of fourth-grade teachers are working together to discuss instructional improvement.
The question about English Language Learners frequently surfaces, “If research tells us it
takes three to ten years to become proficient in reading and writing, why is it there a state mandate
for them to take THE TEST in three years? What can we do to help our students?
Scenario 3: A group of thirty graduate students are taking a course—“Inquiry-Based Instruction.”
Their task on the first evening of class is to build a parachute. They are divided into six groups of five.
Each group is provided with a set of directions, and materials to build the parachute are provided
on a large table in the center of the room. They are to follow the directions, be able to demonstrate
how their parachute works, and discuss the creative processes they experienced in their groups. The