I think a constructivist approach in school would look similar to that of the School of One. The learning environment is designed around the
student’s actual level and presents various tools or methods to achieve his or her potential level. O’Donnell would most likely categorize the educational
setting in the clip from The Simpsons as that of the endogenous constructivistic
perspective. The goal of this approach to learning and development is to create
an environment that allows a child to explore and manipulate the world around
them, through this a cognitive imbalance will most likely occur (either through
experimenting, questioning, or conflict of ideas). In one scene Bart was given
a breakdown of how the classroom structure was setup, or lack thereof. The idea
was to allow students the opportunity to participate in whatever they wanted to
at the time, be it reading a book, taking a nap, or working on a project with
classmates. Rather than the class structure being defined by the instructor it
is the student who dictates that.Although I noticed in the clip that the majority of examples were teacher driven.
I recently got the opportunity to tour a new learning
environment at one of our sister institutions for the higher education system
that I work for. It was set up as an open environment with no walls between the
various work stations, rolling chairs, and moving white boards. The philosophy
behind it was that teachers could conduct a class where open discussion and
social interaction was common, but also that students could use these work
stations as an open environment to study with others. I would say that it is a good example of
what O’Donnell refers to as dialectic constructivism.
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