Chapter 7/8 Case study

1. Describe two similarities between the traditional lesson and the constructivist one as described above.

In both of the lessons, neither one of the classes knew what "measurement" was. Another similarity would be that both classes had teachers that understood that their students didn't know the concept of "measurement"...

2. What are two benefits and two drawbacks of the constructivist approach as described above? Why? In your opinion, are the benefits worth the costs? Explain your response.

Two benefits of the constructivist approach would be that they students get to explore on their own and they are having to start to think logically. Children have to think about different concepts and ideas. The teacher doesn't really give the students the answer, they are having to find and explore things on their own. Two drawbacks would be that the children may not have prior knowledge and/or experience and so the lesson will take longer than expected. Also, the students may not know how to get around to the correct answer and they my become frustrated and just give up. Students may also just decide that because they got frustrated that they hate the idea of "measurement" and that thought will stick with them throughout their lives and may even cause their brain to shut down anytime they hear the word "measurement" or something connected with their past experience.

3. How does the contructivist lesson described above promote critical thinking? Give specific examples of critical thinking from the case study to support your response?

It promotes critical thinking by making the students have to go back to past schemas and try to connect what measurement is so that they can tell the king how big the Mayflower is. The teacher really isn't giving them any anwers and is making them try to come up with their own ideas on how to get the exact measurement of the ship. Also, when the students decide to measure the ship with their hands all of the students have to tell Mark to not let there be any gaps between his fingers and his palm so that he gets an accurate measure. Then the teacher has the smallest person in the class measure the boat with her hands so that she can show the students that it's not going to be the same measurement without actually telling them that. So the students once again have to think critically about another way to measure the ship.

4. Would the constructivist activity be considered an authentic activity? Why or why not?

I would say that the constructivist activity would be considered an authentic activity because an authentic activity is described as an activity that uses real-world resources, experiences, and sharing. They are also problem-focused and the problem that the students are focusing on is trying to get the measurement of the Mayflower to the king. In the constructivist activity, they are using their hands, feet, and body. They are also using past experiences in order to come up with different ways to measure the boat. Beyond that, they are using each others thoughts and ideas to come up with their own thoughts and ideas...so they are sharing and using one anothers thoughts/ideas to come up with new ones.