Constructivism

Fatma Salem
H00369651
 CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:

As young children leave toddlerhood and enter the pre- school and kindergarten levels of the preprimary
period, exploration continues to be the first step in dealing with new situations; currently, however, they
also begin to apply basic concepts to collecting and organizing data to answer a question.
As you proceed through this text, you will learn how young children begin to construct many concepts
during the preprimary or preschool/kindergarten period (the years before children enter first grade).
As children enter the primary period (grades 1–3), they apply these early basic concepts to explore more
abstract inquiries in science and to help them understand the operations of addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division as well as mathematical concepts such as measurement, geometry, and algebra.
During the preprimary period, children learn and begin to apply concepts basic to both mathematics and
science.
 Constructivism:

For instance, if the same amount of liquid is put in both a tall, thin glass and a
short, fat glass, preoperational children say there is more in the tall glass
“because it is taller.” If clay is changed in shape from a ball to a snake, they say
there is less clay in the snake “because it is thinner.” If a pile of coins is placed
close together, preoperational children say there are fewer coins than they
would say if the coins were spread out.
The ability to hold or save the original picture in the mind and reverse physical
change mentally is referred to as conservation, and the inability to conserve is a
critical characteristic of preoperational children.
When the physical arrangement of material is changed, preoperational children
seem unable to hold the original picture of its shape in mind.
Children in this first period are explorers, and they need opportunities to use
their sensory and motor abilities to learn basic skills and concepts.
During the preoperational period, children work with the precursors of
conservation such as counting, one-to- one correspondence, shape, space, and
comparing.
During the third period, called concrete operations (approximately ages 7 to
11), children are becoming conservers.
In studying how children learn, Jean Piaget came to the conclusion that
knowledge is not transmitted from one person to another; instead, people
construct their own under- standings by attaching new experiences to
experiences they already hold in such a way that the resulting
conceptualizations make sense to them.
This is a critical consideration for kindergarten and primary teachers because
the ability to conserve number (the coins problem) is a good indication that
children are ready to deal with abstract symbolic activities.
As children near the end of the sensorimotor period, they reach a
stage where they can engage in representational thought; that is,
instead of acting impetuously, they can think through a solution
before attacking a problem.
During this period, children can learn to use the scientific method
independently; that is, they learn to solve problems in a logical and
systematic manner.
Vygotsky’s View of How Children Learn and Develop:

Whereas Piaget placed an emphasis on children as intellectual explorers making their own
discoveries and constructing knowledge independently, Vygotsky developed an alternative
concept known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD).
Piaget looked at development as if it came mainly from the child alone, from the child’s inner
maturation and spontaneous discoveries, but Vygotsky believed this was true only until about
the age of 2.
Thus, Vygotsky put more emphasis than Piaget on the role of the adult (or a more mature
peer) as an influence on children’s mental development.
Vygotsky believed that—just as people developed tools such as knives, spears, shovels, and
tractors to aid their mastery of the environment—they also developed mental tools.