Post on 26-Jan-2023
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Constructivist Approaches to Student Motivation
MaryAnn Butcher
November 2010
University College of The Cayman Islands
Post Graduate Diploma in Education
EDU 520
Dr L. Malcolm
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation1
INTRODUCTION
“Given your understanding of the constructivist approach to
learning, outline 3-4 of the approaches and discuss how they can
either be used to meet individual needs of students or motivate
students to learn”
In this paper I will attempt to define the Constructivist
Learning Theory and describe the key concepts, ideas and
principles which are used in approaches based on that theory.
After outlining 3 of those approaches with reference to specific
classroom application, I will then draw links between them and
the already established motivational strategies.
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation2
Constructivist Learning Theory
Slavin (2009) describes the constructivist theory of
learning as the idea that “learners must individually discover
and transform complex information, checking new information
against old rules and revisiting rules when they no longer work.”
This emphasis on the students as active learners indicates a lean
towards the student-centered classroom environment where students
work towards discovering their own meanings rather than one in
which the teacher is constantly lecturing and controlling all
classroom activities. The role of the teacher here is to focus on
making connections between facts and fostering new understanding
in students. They tailor their teaching strategies to student
responses and encourage students to analyze, interpret, and
predict information. They also rely heavily on open-ended
questions and promote extensive dialogue among students.
("Constructivism,")
A constructivist teacher at the beginning of a science
lesson on the topic of Magnetism may start by having students
discuss what they think the term means, carry out their own
experiments to discover which types of materials are magnetic and
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation3
make their own conclusions as to the reasons why. Contrast this
with a more ‘traditional’ approach where the teacher may only
have the students take notes on the topic and perhaps allow them
only to watch a demonstration of the experiments. The difference
between the two approaches is often quite evident in the level of
student participation during the lesson. The tradition teacher
may be happiest when students sit quietly and listen attentively
but the constructivist classroom is often bustling with student
activities and discussions.
Historically, Constructivist theory draws heavily on the
work of Piaget and Vygotsky, both of whom emphasized that
cognitive change takes place only when previous conceptions go
through a process of disequilibration in light of new information
which would lead to adaptation of some sort. This means that a
student learns new skills or topics by relating them to the
knowledge and skills they might have mastered already. If the old
cannot be directly applied to the new, he then learns to adapt
these old skills or develop new ones.
Vygotsky also emphasized the social nature of learning, and
both suggested the use of mixed-ability learning groups to
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation4
promote conceptual change. Four key principles derived from
Vygotsky's ideas have played an important role: the Zone of
Proximal Development, Social Learning, Cognitive Apprenticeship,
and Mediated Learning.
Zone of Proximal Development
The concept known as the zone of proximal development refers
to the gap between what a student has already mastered (the
actual level of development) and what he or she can achieve when
provided with educational support (potential development). Tasks
within the zone of proximal development are ones that the student
cannot yet do alone but could do with the assistance of adults or
more competent peers. This is the point of readiness for further
learning. Once the student has completed a task with assistance
(perhaps completing it more than once with diminishing levels of
support) he is then likely to be ready to complete the task on
his own.
This can be well illustrated by the process a child usually
goes through when learning to ride a bicycle for the first time.
This is usually done with the support of a parent or older child
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation5
who already knows how to ride and at a time when the child has
already mastered the operation of the bicycle with training
wheels. The zone of proximal development in this case is what
lies between the child being able to ride with training wheels
and without the training wheels. Once the training wheels are
removed the child must be coached and assisted in order to now
learn to balance while pedaling and steering as he would have
before. The parent usually assists at first by holding the
bicycle up with both hands and then with one, verbally reminding
the child to “sit up straight” or “hold the handles steadily”.
Eventually the adult is able to fully remove his support by
letting go. The child is then able to practice on their own until
they have fully mastered the ability to ride a bicycle.
The social interaction is implicit in Vygotsky’s theory. The
parent in this case must be well aware of the not only child’s
ability level, but also the way in which they think. The parent
or teacher who is sensitively attuned to the child's ever-
shifting abilities and motivation would continually urge that
child on to new levels of competence. The child in turn asks
questions and shows signs of progress that guide and inspire the
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation6
parent or teacher.
Social Learning, Cognitive Apprenticeship and Mediated Learning
As previously stated, the social aspect of learning is
central to Vygotsky’s theory. Vygotsky proposed that children
learn through joint interactions with adults and more capable
peers. When the thought processes of successful problem solvers
are verbalized during cooperative projects, other students are
able to learn these processes and apply them to their own
approach. (Slavin, 2009)
Similarly, cognitive apprenticeship is the process by which
a student would gradually acquires expertise through interaction
with an expert, such as the teacher or more advanced peer.
(Slavin, 2009) Much like traditional forms of apprenticeship
where a person learns complex skills such as carpentry or auto-
repair, the cognitive apprenticeship is facilitated by a person
who is fully competent and involves such processes as modeling
and coaching.
A student would usually start out by observing his teacher
in action, identifying the specific behaviors needed to
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation7
accomplish the task. At the next stage the student, with the
support of the teacher, tries to imitate the behaviors he has
observed. The teacher provides coaching in the form of corrective
feedback, hints and reminders or even once again modeling the
task for the student. As with the bicycle riding scenario from
before, the student is never asked to do anything beyond what he
can accomplish with the teacher’s help and eventually, as the
student becomes more proficient, the teacher gradually removes
their support.
Another related concept is Mediated Learning (also known as
Assisted Learning). Vygotsky conceptualized this constructivist
concept. This is the idea in which the teacher guides instruction
by means of scaffolding to help students to master and
internalize the skills that permit higher cognitive functioning.
(Slavin, 2009) According to Vygotsky, higher cognitive functions,
such as the ability to focus attention or memory, or to think in
terms of symbols is unique to humans and is passed down by
teaching. Furthermore, the development of these functions is tied
to social context and culture. Once these functions are acquired,
the student will have the tools necessary for self-guided
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation8
learning.
Along with these key principles from Vygotsky,
constructivist approaches to teaching include such concepts as:
top-down processing, cooperative learning, discovery learning,
self-regulated learning, scaffolding and APA's Learner-Centered
Psychological Principles.
Scaffolding
This key idea, taken from Vygotsky’s Social Learning theory,
suggest that support for learning and problem solving be provided
to the student in the initial stages in the form of clues,
reminders, simplifying or giving examples. Soon thereafter that
support is to be diminished so that the student’s responsibility
and independence can be increased progressively. Vygotsky defined
scaffolding instruction as the “role of teachers and others in
supporting the learner’s development and providing support
structures to get to that next stage or level” (Raymond, 2000, p.
176).
Scaffolding is an essential component in many, if not all of
the constructivist approaches and ideas such as Mediated Learning
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation9
and Cognitive Apprenticeship and others to follow. As a teaching
strategy on its own, scaffolding provides individualized support
based on the student’s zone of proximal development. The teacher
begins to plan a lesson by taking into account the actual level
of development for each of her students and then structures
activities which are within their potential level of development.
For example, in a music lesson where a student is learning
to play a new piano piece, the teacher might tackle the student’s
problem with left-hand to right-hand co-ordination as follows.
The student is allowed to first master the parts separately (one
hand at a time) and then the teacher plays the accompanying part
while the student is practicing the other. At times she may place
her hand over his to help guide him in the correct finger-
movements or rhythms. They may alternate between the parts at
times. This allows the student to hear how the other part fits
with what they are playing. Eventually, when he is confident on
the separate parts, the student begins to attempt playing them
together on his own. At this point, he has fully mastered
(engaging tactile memory) the movement in each hand and is
aurally aware of how they should sound together. The teacher can
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation10
remove all the supports which were in place at the beginning of
the lesson.
One of the primary benefits of scaffolding instruction is
that it engages the learner. The learner does not passively
listen to information presented. Instead, through the teacher’s
prompting, the learner builds on prior knowledge and forms new
knowledge. In working with students who have low self-esteem and
learning disabilities, it provides an opportunity to give
positive feedback to the students by saying things like “…look
what you have just figured out!” This gives them more of a can
do versus a “this is too hard” attitude. This leads into another
advantage of scaffolding in that if done properly, scaffolding
instruction motivates the student so that they want to learn
more.
Another benefit of this type of instruction is that it can
minimize the level of frustration of the learner. For the piano
student mentioned above a lesson which was not scaffold in such a
way would have been quite frustrating because attempting to learn
the piece of music would become a slow and arduous task because
of the obstacle of having to think about the movements of each
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation11
hand. They would have to break the piece down bar by bar and
perhaps never really gain an appreciation of the musicality of
the piece.
Discovery Learning
One of the most important components of constructivist
approaches is Discovery Learning. In discovery learning, the
student draws on his or her own past experience and existing
knowledge to discover facts and relationships and new truths to
be learned. Students interact with the world by exploring and
manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and controversies,
or performing experiments. As a result, students may be more
likely to remember concepts and knowledge discovered on their
own.
Discovery learning fits easily within the teaching of
science but is applicable to a wide variety of subject areas. In
any subject area, students engaged in discovery learning are
given activities where they learn to recognize a problem,
characterize what a solution would look like, search for relevant
information, develop a solution strategy, and execute the chosen
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation12
strategy and evaluate its effectiveness. In a science lesson
students might be asked to figure out how to make the highest
flying kite. They might start by discussing what the most
suitable materials, dimensions or environmental conditions. Even
the student who has never flown a kite might be able to suggest
light materials or the windiest spot on the island. The students
might then carryout research using the internet or other sources
to find a suitable design or confer with a Design and Technology
teacher about the best techniques for handling and putting
together their materials. They would then test their designs by
attempting to fly them, all the while making adjustment such as
the length of the tail or the type of string as they see fit. In
the end they would present their evaluations and conclusions on
what works best or what doesn’t work.
Discovery learning has several advantages: it actively
engages students in the learning process, it motivates students
to participate, it encourages autonomy and independence, promotes
the development of creativity and problem-solving skills and
provides a individualized learning experience. However, discovery
learning also means the risk of time wasted if errors are made by
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation13
the student and also possibility of overwhelming or demotivating
student who might need more structure.
Self-Regulated Learning
Another one of the most important components of the
constructivist approaches is Self-Regulated Learning. This is
learning that is guided by metacognition (thinking about one's
thinking), strategic action (planning, monitoring, and evaluating
personal progress against a standard), and motivation to learn
(Wikipedia, 2010). Self-regulated learners are those who are
cognizant of their academic strengths and weaknesses, have
knowledge of effective learning strategies and know how and when
to use them. (Slavin, 2009) These learners hold incremental
beliefs about intelligence (as opposed to fixed views of
intelligence) and attribute their successes or failures to
factors (e.g., effort expended on a task, effective use of
strategies) within their control. Self-regulated learners are not
concerned with performance goals
It is often assumed that high-ability students are
automatically self-regulated learners. This is not so. Gifted and
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation14
talented students may have done very well in school without using
good self-regulation strategies because of a combination of their
high abilities and/or an unchallenging curriculum. These self-
regulation skills can be taught, learned, and controlled.
Students who are self-regulated learners believe that
opportunities to take on challenging tasks, practice their
learning, develop a deep understanding of subject matter, and
exert effort will give rise to academic success. In part, these
characteristics may help to explain why self-regulated learners
usually exhibit a high sense of self-efficacy. In the educational
psychology literature, researchers have linked these
characteristics to success in and beyond school (Wikipedia,
2010).
Top-Down Processing
Constructivist approaches use top-down processing in which
students begin with sophisticated problems and ascertain the
basic knowledge and skills needed to solve those problems.
Related instructional methods include: Discovery and Assisted
learning. These instructional techniques stimulate students’
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation15
curiosity and motivation. Also, they facilitate the development
of independent problem-solving and critical-thinking skills
because students must analyze and manipulate information.
In the classroom setting, the teacher would begin with a
problem, sometimes presented by the students themselves. The
students work to discover how to solve the problem. If actively
involved in discovery, students will develop problem-solving
skills and engage in socio-cultural learning experiences. This
was the point Vygotsky called cognitive scaffolding, which
reflected the cultural process of assistance through cooperation
and collaboration.
Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning or Peer-Assisted learning is an
instructional approach in which students work in small groups to
achieve team success while emphasizing the student’s
responsibility for their own learning and that of their team
mates. This instructional technique emphasizes group dynamics
where thinking processes are shared, modeled and challenged until
all participants have gain better understanding. Many quite
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation16
different approaches to cooperative learning exist. Most involve
students in four-member, mixed-ability groups, but some methods
use dyads and some use varying group sizes.
APA’s Learner Centered Psychological Principles
This set of 14 principles of learning and motivation, laid
out by the APA’s Task Force on Psychology in Education, paint a
picture of the learner as actively seeking knowledge by:
reinterpreting information and experiences for themselves; being
intrinsically self-motivated; working with others to socially
construct meaning; and being aware of and capable of effectively
applying their own learning strategies. Many, if not all, of the
principles echo those found within the constructivist approach.
For the purpose of later discussions on motivation however, I’ll
draw attention to a few in particular.
Principle #7, in addressing the motivational and emotional
influences on learning, states: “What and how much is learned is
influenced by the learner's motivation. Motivation to learn, in
turn, is influenced by the individual's emotional states,
beliefs, interests, and goals, and habits of thinking.” One can
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation17
infer from this that learner-centered lessons must be include or
be in some way geared towards the learner’s interests, points of
view or mood. The task of accomplishing this in every lesson
seems daunting, but then one must think of the number of times
teachers are faced with the questions: “Why do we need to know
this?”
Principle #8, in addressing intrinsic motivation to learn
states: “The learner's creativity, higher order thinking, and
natural curiosity all contribute to motivation to learn.
Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty
and difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for
personal choice and control.” It may be hard to imagine, but it
is easy to demotivate a good student if the lessons are too
simple. Even with continued success, students may lose interest
in tasks that they once loved to do. For many students it is the
challenges that are presented and conquered that drives them
forward in their learning.
Principle #9, in addressing effects of motivation on effort
states: “Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires
extended learner effort and guided practice. Without learners'
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation18
motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is
unlikely without coercion.”
Constructivist Approaches Outlined
For the purpose of clarifying my direction in the next part of
this paper, I feel it necessary to explain my understanding of
what a constructivist approach is. Above, I have defined and
described the prevailing theory of constructivism and several of
the concepts, ideas and principles that characterize its
application to the classroom environment. While some core
concepts such as Discovery learning and Self-regulated Learning
may be utilized as full approaches in some subjects such as
science, it is not my intention to present then as such. Going
forward, I now hope to illustrate how the constructivist theory
and combinations of the various concepts, ideas and principles
are specifically and practically applied to curricular subject
areas.
Constructivism in Reading: Reciprocal Teaching
According to Slavin (2009), this constructivist approach is
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation19
designed primarily to help low achievers in elementary and middle
schools learn reading comprehension. Reciprocal teaching can be
used to teach students how to coordinate the use of four
comprehension strategies: predicting, clarifying, generating
questions, and summarizing. (Pilonieta, P., & Medina, A. 2009)
While working in small groups, with the teacher as a facilitator,
the students use these strategies to engage in a discussion
thereby jointly constructing and enhancing one another’s
understanding of the text. The teacher initially models the
questions students might ask as they read and then passes the
role of group leader to individual students so that they can then
generate questions for each other.
It should be easy to note the several constructivist
elements within this approach. The use of small groups with
active discussion resembles the cooperative and social learning
concepts described above. The teacher must employ the idea of
scaffolding and even while encouraging greater student
responsibility, the teacher continues monitoring and scaffolding.
Questioning the Author
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation20
Another constructivist approach to reading described by
Slavin (2009), is one called Questioning the Author. In this
method questioning can help students to see that texts are
written by real people for a range of different purposes, and
that some are more successful than others in achieving this
purpose. As students read the text, the teacher stops them from
time to time in order to prompt questions about the author’s
intent and meaning or the story’s development.
Wilson (2003) also proposes the following exercise within
this approach: “An interesting exercise with advanced students
is to compare two reports of the same news item from different
sources: how reliable are they? What sources have been used? What
has been picked out as the key point? What verbs have been used
and to what effect? Which one concords most with their own
perceptions of the situation?” She notes that the benefits of
this approach can be found in the students being more motivated
and developing their critical stance rather than simply
paraphrase the article.
Constructivism in Music
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation21
After reading the articles by real practicing teachers such
as Wilson, Freer and Myers on their own ideas for constructivist
approaches, I began to examine my own classroom practices. Could
I also be a constructivist? I’ll admit that in the past, I only
associated the term ‘discovery learning’ with the science
subject. I thought that my music curriculum had too many facts
and concepts to be learnt, memorized and practices in preparation
for exams. Having studied the theory and its accompanying ideas
I’m now able to recognize some constructivist approaches in my
own schemes of work.
With the aid of ICT resources such as music notation
software my students’ composition classes have definitely become
more student-centered as they can type in their ideas and have
the computer accurately play it back for them. Initially, I do
provide them with support in the form of an overview of the
particular concepts and or listening and performance examples on
the genre that we are modeling. In creating their compositions
they are expected to draw on their own interpretation of those
concepts. Throughout the process they frequently evaluate each
other’s work and discuss (and sometimes defend) the choices
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation22
they’ve made.
In the study of western music history and world music with
younger students my approach involves allowing them to make
connections between the music they know and the new music in as
many ways as possible. This may mean aurally comparing the
timbres of western and world musical instruments or going further
to invent their own new musical instruments and performing their
own compositions on them. I encourage open discussion on their
perceptions of the music they encounter and try wherever possible
to help them draw connection between how the music makes them
feel and their knowledge of the core musical elements such as
pitch, dynamics and tempo.
Motivation and the Constructivist Approaches
Motivation can be defined as an internal state that
activates, guides, and maintains learning behavior. (Palmer, D.
2005) For the context of the classroom, further distinction
should be made between the intrinsic and extrinsic forms of
motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to those tasks or topics
(hobbies) which are inherently enjoyable and interesting to a
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation23
person. Extrinsic motivation refers to external extra or external
factors which persons are taught to value. (Rewards) In its
simplest forms, the student’s motivation to learn can be treat as
“the student’s reason” to want to learn.
I believe that many if not all of the concepts, ideas and
principles contained in the constructivist approaches are
intended to impact positively on student motivation. If a child
is interested in or curious about what is happening in the
classroom then they are more likely continue learning. Quite
often in schools, extrinsic motivators such as grades or rewards
are the driving force behind students’ performance. The
successful accomplishment learning goals which is supported by
key concepts such as scaffolding and discovery learning appeals
to both types of motivated student.
Motivation can ebb or be completed removed if a student
looses interest due to failure or boredom. For this reason, it is
the teacher job to closely monitor and maintain the students’
interest and efficacy but tailoring the levels of difficulty and
the relevance to the topics to their individual need. This is
primarily seen in the practice of scaffolding and the teacher’s
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation24
awareness of the of the student’s Zone of Proximal Development.
Teachers should also be aware that the cooperative learning
or peer-assisted group dynamics achieves this while also shifting
some of the burden from their own shoulders.
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation25
REFERENCES
(2008). The constructivist teaching-learning approach--what is it?. Caribbean Business, 36(21), B15.
Barron, John. Music Educators Journal, Nov2007, Vol. 94 Issue 2
Chung, I. (2004). A Comparative Assessment of Constructivist and Traditionalist Approaches to Establishing Mathematical Connections In Learning Multiplication. Education, 125(2), 271-278.
Constructivism. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.funderstanding.com/content/constructivism
Freer, P. (2009). A Constructivist Approach with Choruses. Music Educators Journal, 95(4), 57.
Hand, B., & Treagust, D. (1994). Teachers' thoughts about changing to constructivist teaching/learning approaches within junior. Journal of Education for Teaching, 20(1), 97.
Kaiser, C. (2010). Redrawing the Boundaries: A Constructivist Approach to Combating Student Apathy in the Secondary History Classroom. History Teacher, 43(2), 223-232.
Maurer, M., Bell, E., Woods, E., & Allen, R. (2006, December). Structured Discovery in Cane Travel: Constructivism in Action. Phi Delta Kappan, pp. 304-307.
Myers, D. (2009). Constructivist Approaches in the Band Class. Music Educators Journal, 95(4), 58.
Palmer, D. (2005). A Motivational View of Constructivist‐informedTeaching. International Journal of Science Education, 27(15)
Pilonieta, P., & Medina, A. (2009). Reciprocal Teaching for the Primary Grades: 'We Can Do It, Too!". Reading Teacher, 63(2), 120-129.
Constructivists Approaches To Student Motivation26
Raymond, E. (2000). Cognitive Characteristics. Learners with Mild Disabilities (pp. 169-201). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, APearson Education Company.
Slavin, R. (2009). Educational psychology: theory and practice - 9th ed. Boston:Pearson Education, Inc. (Original work published 1986)
WILSON, K. (2003) A Social Constructivist Approach to Teaching Reading: Turning the rhetoric into reality. University of Canberra