Social Constructivism, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire and Gardner.

Social Constructivism, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire and Gardner.

by Arne Gylseth -
Number of replies: 5

One thing I am courious about is this term "Social Constructivism" does this have anything to do with the theories of Lev Vygotsky or is it something rather different ? (To be in "the zone of proximal development").

What about the learning theories of Jean Piaget isn't this about "Constructivism" (Principle of "assimilation and accommodation") I found an interesting definiton of "contructivism" here.

What about Paulo Friere and his talk about the dialogue and his talk about "the praxis" and the interaction against the world, could this have something to do with "Sosial Constructivism", or is the the teaching of Paulo Freire just something else ? One other link.

One other thing - according to my point of view a very usefull and nice learning tool like Moodle is not the one or the other learning therory per definition and by itself. It is the way that you use this very flexible tool that will decide what the learning product will be. It is not the hammer that will deside how the house will be like, it's actually the carpenter ! (I think)

You could use "Moodle" in a learning situation based on two persons sitting in two oposite corners of the world with Moodle as the only mean of comunication. Or you could on the other hand  use Moodle as a tool in a learning situation based on "real persons" interacting directly with each other, using Moodle as one of many parts of a complete learning environment, based for instance on different kind of thinking and interaction like described by Gardner.   

Is is necesarry to use Moodle in one certain way to be within "the framework" of "Soisial contructivism" ?  (Just try to make some "assimilation and accommodation" to see what really is within this term "Soisial contructivism".) (And one thing I'm really courious about - can a group of real persons meeting regularly in real physical life and usin Moodle for common planning and a tool for learning, and still be within this term  "Soisial contructivism".) (Or will they have to split of to each corner of this world, starting to use the computer as the only mean for comunication.)

My hypothesis: I believe that it is not ment that way -  "Soisial contructivism" can be based on any kind of comunication and that the learning theories of Vygotsky also will be covered under the more general term  "Sosial contructivism".

Is this right or wrong ??? !!

Or to ask the same question in a little bit other way: "Sosial contructivism" as this term is used related to Moodle, does this term have to do with a situation using computers and internet for training, or will it be simularly applicable for any general learning, situation also when computers and internet are not involved in the learning process at all ??

Is the theory about "Sosial contructivism", as it is used in the Moodle project, a teory about how to use computers in the learning process, or is it a teory about learning in general (like that one of Lev Vygotsky" ?

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In reply to Arne Gylseth

Re: Social Constructivism, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire and Gardner.

by David Le Blanc -

Arne,

I really enjoyed reading your post. As your post indicates a lot of the themes of sociocultural theories overlap. My own research based on Vygotsky and Leontev's Activity Theory, directly aligns with the Constructionist theory which, according to Martin Dougiamas, was the theoretcal framework informing the development of moodle. 

What distinguishes these theories from cognitive theories is the belief that 'knowledge' is not seen as an object that can be passed from one person to another, rather understanding and meaning are constructed by learners through their interactions with others, while actively engaging in learning tasks. Learning does not take place within a vacuum, rather it is a process integrated within a social context. Knowlege is negotiated and constructed through a dialogical process.    

The real jewel of the moodle LMS is that it centres on learning activities rather than objective content. There is great support for social interaction and dialogue around learning materials.  approve

Moodle was built as a learning management or virtual learning system informed by social constructionist theories. Certainly, this theoretical framework is directed at how we learn in general, not particularly within computer mediated environments. 

In fact, no learning or communication media have ever shown significant improvements in learning outcomes. It's how these tools are used in teaching and learning situations where instructional benefits will accrue.    

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In reply to David Le Blanc

Re: Social Constructivism, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire and Gardner.

by Arne Gylseth -

Thanks a lot David, for a very interesting comment !

My personal point of view is that "social constructivism" is not really dependent of the use of computers. My personal point of view is also that "sosial constructivism" vere not really "invented" by Lev Vygotsky or any other certain person.

Actually I think the "social constructivism" vere a major didactic method already in the stone age. "centre on learning activities rather than objective content." For sure they did not learn how to hunt the wild animals using overhead projectors.

I use now use Moodle as a "tecnical part" of my lessons in secondary school (18 year old students). We also have an commersial LMS system that we can use as well.

The "killer function" of the Moodle program, that the commersial LMS, strange enough do not have, is a system for planning and to make a log of the lessons and the projects that has been done. Very easy that can be done just using the Week format of Moodle to make the plan and then revice into the plan what really did happen as time and events pass by.

As I am using the Moodle program at the moment I am mainly using it for the organization of ordinary lessons and projects that the studentas are working on. Also we use it for storing and organizing different kind of "key information" that the students are using for or in their projects. Actually we are using very few functions, but those few functions apear to be very helpfull and very useful.

Even though we had tried use a commersial LMS for approx a half year first without much success, the students adaptet and started to use Moodle on regularly basis after just one week. So now "everybody" agree in that Moodle is something neccessary that we just have to use.

My pont of view is that Moodle is designed in such a way that is very well suited to support the "social constructivism" as a way of teaching also when the "computer part" of the training is not the major media for training, but just one media of training among a other medias and means, like ordinary books, laboratory equipment, project works and so on.

By the way, the commersial LMS has one rather usable function that the Moodle don't have (I think). When somebody issue som new content in one of your courses, you will imediately see a remark on a status panel. So you just click on that remark and then you can se the new content. In this way you do not have to send around or receive a lot of e-mails and you do not have to look around on different places to see the new content either. 

On the other hand, the planning and logging posibilities of Moodle makes Moodle to the best alternative for us. If it had something like a sentral status panel that could show something like "5 new messages in your cources" and then direct clickable access to those 5 messages, it would also had adopted the best part of our commersial LMS, as well.   

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In reply to Arne Gylseth

Re: Social Constructivism, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire and Gardner.

by David Le Blanc -

Arne,

It sounds like you are using moodle in a very effective way with your students. approve

Something you said about the commercial LMS you were using that you wish moodle had:

 When somebody issue som new content in one of your courses, you will imediately see a remark on a status panel. So you just click on that remark and then you can se the new content.

Actually, moodle will support this. The Recent activity dialogue box shows what has changed since the last time you logged on. There is also a link in this box where you can track changes during specific periods of time. Take a look at the images below:

Recent activity dialogue box

track recent activity

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In reply to David Le Blanc

Re: Social Constructivism, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire and Gardner.

by Marc Dastous -

First of all, thank you all for the out-pouring of ideas, resources and conversation about the philosophical roots of Moodle.  I think that the theories that Moodle is built on are just as, if not more, important than the interface.  We talk so much about new features, bells and whistles and that is part of development and improvement.  However, let us not forget the really function of Moodle -- Acquisition of knowledge through distributed learning!!

That being said, I learn something new about Moodle everyday.  David, I use the Recent Event feature everyday, but I never clicked on it!! Duh!!!  How cool is it to be able to see all the assignments submitted over a period of time.  This is so useful, I can use it right away!!

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Marc

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In reply to Marc Dastous

Re: Social Constructivism, Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire and Gardner.

by Arne Gylseth -

Thanks a lot for interesting comments and the information about the Recent Activity function. According to what I now have found out on this forum, I blieve this function was included as standard from Moodle version 1.2

As I am still using Moodle version 1.1 (that I thougt was a 1.2 when I installed it) I think I do not have the Recent Activity function. At least I have not been able to find it.

Thanks a lot for the information. I think I now knows quite clearly why I should try to make a uppgrade to the new version 1.2 stable. 

Arne.

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