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Running Head: CASE 3: CONSTRUCTIVISM

Case 3: Constructivism
Amy Keyser
EDCI 531
Purdue University

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CASE 3: CONSTRUCTIVISM
Case 3 Scenario
The seventh grade teachers at ABC Middle School are interested in planning more
engaging lessons while getting their seventh grade students to think more deeply about the
content they are learning. The seventh grade consists of 80 students who are taught by four
core teachers: language arts, math, science and social studies. The students are divided into
four groups of twenty students who rotate as a group among the four teachers. Each teacher has
each group of students for a 45 minute period each day. The teachers have a common planning
time and have been discussing ways to integrate their content matter and foster a greater
engagement on the part of the students. Each classroom has five computers that are hooked up to
the internet and a printer. The school also has a classroom set of tablets that the teachers may
check out on any given day. One day, while looking at Facebook, the social studies teacher sees
a graphic that shows the changing boundaries of Europe from 1000 AD to 2000 AD
(http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f54_1337075813). Since world history is part of the seventh
grade social studies curriculum, he wonders if the teachers could use the boundary map to create
an integrated project for the seventh grade students.
Reflection Questions
1) How can instructors embed learning in complex, realistic and relevant environments?
2) How can instructors promote a community of inquiry (social negotiation) among
learners?
3) How might the instructors encourage multiple perspectives among learners?
4) How might the instructors encourage typical seventh graders to take ownership in their
learning?
5) How might instructors encourage the students to explore other points of view?

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CASE 3: CONSTRUCTIVISM
Possible Solutions
The teachers decide to create an open ended multi-disciplinary project based on the
changing boundaries map. The students are divided into groups of four and each group is
expected to study a century of European history. At the end of four weeks, they will give a
presentation to the entire seventh grade that will include important math and science
innovations/discoveries as well as governments and geopolitical changes for their century. They
will also be encourages to include styles of dress, languages spoken, common foods, education
and cultural practices of the century. The focus of their presentation will be to highlight the top
five important events (discoveries, invasions, inventions, people, etc.) from that century. After
all the presentations, the student body will vote for the most influential century. Each teacher
will take time during his or her class period to help students with the relevant content area
information, providing scaffolding and encouragement when the topics are confusing or difficult
for the students.
Relevant Environment and Social Negotiation
These scenarios will be complex and realistic. There are many avenues to explore when
it relates to an entire century. The students will be studying what really happened and will
hopefully find something in the century that piques their interest. Since they will be working as
a group to come up with the five most important things, they will have to be able to present their
cases clearly and persuasively for their research to be included. The group dynamic should help
them consider things from a different perspective and cement their own learning as they analyze
each group members research.
Multiple Perspectives

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CASE 3: CONSTRUCTIVISM
By looking at so many different aspects of the century, they will encounter different
perspectives and ways of doing things than their own. As they examine cultural practices, they
should come to see that the learning of humanity is not static and changes over time.
Ownership of Learning
Although most seventh graders are not known for their take-charge attitude, this project
should provide each student with something that is of interest to him or her. Also, the social
dynamics of being dependent on a group should make them more responsible for their own
learning, since they will not want to be the dumb one in their group.
Other Points of View
There will be some overlap of centuries, that is, more than one group will be studying a
specific century. When the final presentations are given, students will be able to hear different
perspectives on what is important. Also, as they hear about all the centuries and what others
found important, they will be able to see how many students evaluate events through the lens of
their own knowledge.
Conclusion
With encouragement from their teachers and plenty of in-class support, this project
should be engaging to most students. A disadvantage is that they will likely learn much about
one century and remember very little about the other centuries, where they only heard brief
presentations. However, the overarching goals of understanding the forces that change societies
and the interconnectedness of culture and discovery should be realized for most students.