Constructivist Theory in Education

I have found over my career that constructivism and "project" based education did more to cement the skills required to be successful in my classroom than any lecture I could deliver.(Laureate, 2009) To have a group of students work toward a goal, run into obstacles along the way, have to solve problems for those obstacles, then continue to perform them for evaluation, has catapulted many of my students to achieving their dreams. For these students, they learned to embrace the challenges that the world presented to them, especially music. Students that followed the path that I suggested, they became successful as performers and music educators. For the students that became successful in other career areas, they told me they had used many of the techniques we used in performance to become successful with their particular specialty.

Many years ago. I had a suspicion that the rating or score at music festival was related to the number of minutes spent on music making during rehearsal, versus the director speaking during that time. I tracked myself over a one month period using an excel sheet to calculate the number of minutes spent working together versus the number of minutes that I "taught" during the rehearsal. I found over time that the scores at an adjudicated event became surprisingly close to the percentage of student on task time in rehearsal, or the more time they played in rehearsal the better the score. With performance being a goal oriented activity that used collaboration, cooperation, and character development in each rehearsal, we were able to see the fruits of our labors. This is a concept that I still use today in my preparation for performances for my band students. It is also one I use for my general music classes as well.

Constructivism is another tool for an educator to use that will increase learning in the pupils we teach. The constructivist learning will do more to help these youngsters remember the "lesson" than anything else we can say. The concept can be summed up with this: Have students do more than you speak during a class.

References:

DVD: Laureate, 2009, Contructionism and Constructivist Learning Theories

Cognitive Learning Theory

The idea that we possess multiple intelligences which are developed at different rates has a direct link to the concept of practice from behaviorism. Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences learning theory seems to have a natural extension to the hehavioral theory we discussed last week. I will develop my motor cortex by practicing body movements over and over again. My musical intelligence is much more developed due to exposure, practice, and performance over the long term. This still effects my motor cortex, however repetition makes it permanent. Using these intelligences to tap into my student's strengths as a preferred learning style will help me reach their potential at a faster rate. It also gives me another tool with which to reach my students.

Reference:

Lever-Duffy, J., McDonald, J. Theoretical Foundations,Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA 2008

Behaviorism in the classroom

Behaviorism is widely used in our schools. The emphasis Dr. Obey had in the video for this weeks class told of creating opportunities to reinforce positive behaviors much more than negative ones. Behaviorism is the concept of practice, defined as repeating a system or process to acquire a skill. Teaching the students games or practice strategies that help take the boredom of repetition is a key component for success for the learner, especially when learning a new skill. The repetition is the key component in behaviorism.

Repetition for a young musician is developing the four major lobes of the brain. The use of the occular cortex for translating the musical language, the motor cortex to coordinate all the muscles being used, the temporal cortex to determine correct pitch and length, and the frontal lobe to decide how to interpret the music, are all being used while playing an instrument. Marzano's study show twenty-four repetitions to attain an eighty percent recall is the magic number for me. One of my trumpet texts states that in order to really learn a new piece to play it twice very slowly, then to repeat the piece another "fifty times" gradually speeding up from time 25-50.(Jacoby, 1990) At this stage the piece begins to feel comfortable. The repetition is what cements it to the lobes of the brain.



Reference:

DVD: Behaviorist Learning Theory, Laureate Education, 2009

Pitler, H. Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works McRel, 2007,
Denver Colorado

Jacoby, J. Jake's Method, Jockobotz Publishing, Denton, TX 1990